A Meowth's Guide to World Domination
by Flashfire
Summary: Ever wanted to know the strangest way to take over the world? Join Sneaker the Meowth-morph as he finds out precisely this, and a lot more about himself he couldn't care to know. Set in the PMM universe, this IRC-written epic is currently in production, a
1. Reka's Beginning

The disclaimer:  
  
Pokemon is © Nintendo 1994-2003 and lots of years after that.  
  
Sneaker is not mine, he's Jacob's, © someyear.  
  
Big hand to Sneaker also for converting this transcript from IRC log into something you can actually read. I owe you one. :D  
  
---------  
  
The Meowth stared at the statue.. turning some ideas over in his head. And quickly realising that there could only be one thing he really wanted to say to this. "I want.. the world!" he spoke, taking a crescendo at the end. "I want people to obey me; I want everybody to do as I say. Whether they're able to or not. Whether it kills them or not, even. I want loyalty, I want power, and.. I'd like it right now, please."  
  
To which the voice responded. "Hey, I said ONE thing."  
  
"Well, can you get all that into one thing then?" Sneaker said. "Because that's what I want."  
  
The voice fell silent then. A nice, deathly silence; enough for a small bit of rock to fall from the ceiling, and make a nice hollow sounding 'thud' noise.. atop the catmorph's head. "Ow!" was the breaking of the silence.. before the voice spoke again. "Yeah, I can make this work. I'll just add to it, though, and you tell me if there's anything you don't want."  
  
*Wow, that was easy. I don't even have to think about this now.* was the consideration, before he just.. nodded, ignoring his resounding head pain, and the ringing in his ears. "Just don't be stupid."  
  
"You would like to be.. idolised. People will do what they say purely because you said do it. It doesn't matter what they think, they could care less about themselves. It's all you."  
  
"They do anyway?" Sneaker offered, before another rock landed on his head, and he went quiet again.  
  
"You would like to be adored by the masses. They fall over themselves in their adoration and it becomes easy to make things happen in your name." came the voice, and Sneaker wondered about part of it. "Sounds soppy. Can't I gain evil demon powers and just make them all fear me instead? That sounds much better to me."  
  
"Name the last overlord you know of that was ousted because everybody liked his attitude."  
  
Sneaker couldn't find a way around that.. but he still wanted to have powers beyond all that this was going towards, so he considered. "But nobody will ever like my attitude! I'm repugnant! I try to be! If I wasn't I'd be upset!"  
  
"I noticed." cane the flat reply. "I can't do anything about that; I'm only an omnipotent deity. I'm not THAT good."  
  
Sneaker felt a notch prouder, and another falling rock made his head hurt that little bit more. "But I can make people not see it. Which would help you, really; you could be horribly evil to them and they'd come back for more."  
  
"Where do I sign." was the immediate response.  
  
"Thought so. Anyway, just wait there. I'll go off and do some insanely powerful godly power stuff, and then I'll get back to you. I'm sure you can find something to do." And then the voice went quiet, and Sneaker thought maybe he should be good and wait soundlessly. Of course, we know how long that thought lasted, before the cat started himself a little wailing song to pass the time.  
  
The ceiling caved in on him, rightfully too; and little Sneaker went to sleep for a while. ....  
  
***  
  
It was a bright and sunny day. Birds were chirping. The sky was bluer than itself and completely devoid of any cloud. Sneaker, like so many other people, realised that such a day means one thing; everybody is having a good time. Therefore, it is his role.. no, his DUTY.. to provide a source of annoyance, to maintain the balance of all things. He was very good at this.  
  
While kicking dirt at the passing rattata along the forest path wasn't quite as good as kicking sand at the kids that were on the beach - it generally got him less problems from ten-foot Charizard morphs that didn't like it when Sneaker was doing his extremely important job. But then, his blackened and slightly smouldering clothes could be rebought. Or restolen. And his fur would eventually grow back, and become the right colour again. He hoped.  
  
A few of the rattatas didn't like him doing this, however, and a crowd of them had come up behind him, composed of now slightly dirty and bedraggled little rodents that saw nothing better than to mass up and wait until they felt confident enough to go and fell a morph, and a catmorph at the very least. And Sneaker was at the very least, but they didn't know that.  
  
"I don't know why you lot are following me, I mean if you really want me to beat you all up, I'll oblige, but you don't want that. Just go on your way." Sneaker would say, and each kick brought more to the fold, and he could actually hear their collective breathing, which was really unnerving, but he didn't show it yet.  
  
Half an hour passed before it really did irritate him, and he turned around, and went to begin speech. "Ok, that's it. Will you all please shuuuuhuuu ohh wow." One could visibly see his face drop as every square inch of the place was filled with an upset rodent. They definitely saw it.  
  
And whatever intuition Sneaker had... acted, and he starting running in the other direction; the wave, and that's what it -was-, followed him. Oh, how they followed. And they were faster than the cat, as well, which meant the first lappings of the wave were biting attacks on his feet, most of which were missing, luckily for him.  
  
"Haha! Run while you still can, rodents!" Sneaker somehow had the gall to say; they were running, sure.. but they were chasing HIM. .. How dare they chase him? A spark of insanity took him, and he stopped, and turned. "How dare you all-" He never finished the sentence, because the ground gave way under him.  
  
Sneaker was lucky, because not only did his falling take him out of the way, but the hole collapsed on itself, sealing up the entrance to wherever he'd got to. He had been saved. No, wait. "You're safe for now! But I will get you some day! And then... ohh, you will learn to know pain." he said, failing miserably at the dark and evil tone of voice required.  
  
Still. He had to get out of here and hide- er, refind those blasted rodents, all one hundred thousand million of them-.. and there was only one way he could go, so that's the way he went. It was dark, and narrow, and it smelled.. much like Sneaker, in fact; which was the main lure of the place, in all honesty.  
  
Dirt-caked feet padded down this completely foreboding tunnel, but Sneaker was sure there was a light up here somewhere, because.. well, there had to be. He hadn't fallen all -that- far. There was a light, way ahead, but it was approaching him, and this was good.  
  
From a short distance away, he could see in; the room was very small, and all it contained was a marble statue. Just a simple figure shaped to look like a rather large Butterfree, but -it- was the source of light. Dim light, but.. he picked it up just fine. "Someone needs to come here and change the lightbulb.." he queried.  
  
"You don't find it adequate?" said a voice, before everything went completely white, and Sneaker shut and covered his eyes. "Hey! It's just fine! But I can tell what dim light is, you dope! Even if I could care less!"  
  
Everything went dark again, and he had to readjust to the dimness.. a rather easy task for such a skillful cat. The world would learn to fear it someday. "You're a statue. " Sneaker said, after a short while. "And statues don't speak."  
  
"Maybe I'm not a statue." said the statue. "I could be an all-powerful god that just fancies sitting down here and waiting for the world to end."  
  
Sneaker laughed. "Get REAL. I'm looking at a statue, therefore that's what you are."  
  
"I'm looking at a worthless waste of my time. That's what -you- are."  
  
"I try my best." Sneaker said, rubbing his hand against his chest in that offbeat way that people do.  
  
To which the statue.. laughed. Of all the beings in the world Sneaker could have found.. he found this one. "That's good! You don't like people much. They don't like you. They're not worth liking!"  
  
"I'm not worth liking." Sneaker said. "And if you think otherwise I might just have to come inside that statue of yours and beat you up."  
  
The laughter turned to snorting of a sort. Still funny, though. "Hah! No, you have some guts. That's what this world needs, people that can sit back and go "F--- you! I'm going to piss off as many people as I can before I die." Keeps the world interesting. Tell you what, I'm going to give you something."  
  
Sneaker stared. This.. statue, or whatever.. it actually respected -him-? He was worth something to someone..? Finally! He had won! But.. this thing was one being. And it was.. well, it had power. It told him that. "Anything?"  
  
"But not everything. I know what you need.. do you?"  
  
It was at this point in the dream that the walls started spinning, and the statue turned into a pink flamingo and started singing the Hamster Dance, and Sneaker realised he was dreaming this, and woke up.. to find himself under a pile of rubble. Which didn't matter, since he'd reached the end of his flashback.  
  
"You should probably get yourself out of that rubble now. Can't be good for your back."  
  
"'S okay. I can always steal someone else's." Sneaker said, shifting small bits off him, and standing up.. somewhat dazed, but still alive.  
  
The walls were rotating in a left direction, and in the centre was a pink flamingo statue.. that was busy singing the Hamster Dance. And doing a pretty good job of it, too. "Dee da-dee da dee-dee do-doo.."  
  
"Am I still asleep?" Sneaker wondered, placing a finger in each ear, and turning around him.. just to check. The exit was.. well, it was moving. Not good.  
  
"Nope. I'm just messing with your head." the statue said, as the world returned to normal, and the statue to its normal marble butterfree look. "I finished what you asked for, anyway."  
  
Sneaker, being that he had a finger in each ear, didn't hear this. "Wha?" he asked, now freeing up his ears. "I finished your object! It's a good job, I hope, and it does everything we wanted it to."  
  
A flash of light made an object appear suspended in the air, between Sneaker and the statue. It formed in shape.. a rounded base, on a neck cord, mostly metal.. Sneaker identified it. "It's a cat bell?"  
  
"It's a cat bell. A special one, though." It finished forming.. the metal was a dark red and the cord itself, green. Black shine. Quite a nice piece of work, but Sneaker would look rather odd in it, he thought.. "So.. how does this work."  
  
"You put it on. It's simple. While you wear it, you can do everything in your wish. People will obey you, and the world is yours. What's beautiful is its simplicity, and the fact it doesn't really prey on too much magic to work.. but you won't appreciate this, since you're a pleb."  
  
"Is that good?" Sneaker wondered.  
  
"Take it. It is my gift to you, as a member of this planet that's more entertaining than a bad case of explosive diarrhoea." So Sneaker plucked the bell from the air. "Gee, thanks, I think."  
  
"Now, I'm going to put you back on top. I saved you the trouble of killing all those rattata so you can get away from here and go try out your new toy. I turned them all into dead things. I think maybe it's a nice place for the new Ruler Of World to come from, but that's just me." said the statue.   
  
Sneaker nodded.. and everything went to white again. The pain was obvious, but the god left him there.  
  
Eventually Sneaker ended back up on top.. amidst pools of red. Bits of grey matter and organic decay were just littered in a wide area.. red on every tree, every leaf, over every piece of ground. On Sneaker's feet now, even. Whatever and whoever that guy was.. he was not messing when he said he did this. "I think I like this guy." Sneaker conceded.. after a number of minutes of dumbfounded staring at all the gore.  
  
Sneaker eventually was upset at not finding a deep enough pool of red to try his hand at swimming, and thus left the wasted forest.. taking care to wind by the beach on his way, so that his bloodstained feet wouldn't look quite too obvious; this time it really -wasn't- his doing.  
  
***  
  
The sun cooked the sand to a nice golden brown as Sneaker walked over it.. taking his steps lightly, going right by the water, and leaving a trail of dispersing red. A slight smirk of wonderment dressed his face has he turned the cat bell in his hands, trying to examine it properly, and to ignore the feeling of wet sand underfoot which he -hated-. "Well.. it doesn't look anything out of the ordinary...  
  
.. then again, I don't imagine these things would do, really." was the remark. Strangely senseful, although the temptation to put it on rather than just look and comment was great. However.. now was not the time. That, and the mere idea of fantastic power made him really nervous, because everybody with the evil-type power in action movies failed and died. Was that really for him?  
  
Still, he wondered. That Charizard had noticed him.. but since Sneaker wasn't being overly annoying, apart from masking out the not-so-high sun from a few sunbathers (accidental, Sneaker noted; such a pity. If he was trying, he'd have an umbrella.) and so he was left alone. The cat nodded. Good. It wouldn't do to awaken the new Head Honcho in front of someone so obviously undeserving.  
  
That, and.. if it didn't work, he'd get beaten up again. Not going through that again.  
  
More thoughtfulness took Sneaker inland.. he cutting a path through as many sandcastles as he could.. but being prepared to run at the end, since the firetype had noticed this most certainly. But he was fast.. and he'd got off the beach before anything bad could possibly happen.  
  
However.. Sneaker had wandered into a temple. "How fitting.." Sneaker said, under his breath. The place was populated slightly. The place had AC, of course it was. But most people were sitting about, and nobody was ten feet tall. Perfect. "Can I have your attention please!" he shouted.. before a boot thrown by someone hit him something fierce upside the head, and he fell over.  
  
"It's too hot for your comments right now." said the culprit of the boot.. a rather unstocky Raichu-morph, with a nasty scar and a tail that did better as a walkmat than the discharging limb it was meant to be... Sneaker couldn't place the guy, but it wasn't his business. Old morphs were nasty by nature. It almost impressed him.. sometimes.  
  
Okay, so Sneaker's big emergence wouldn't be like that.. It'd be subtle. Stylish. So unlike him it's really stupid. But.. this is how he fancied playing it. Cat bell in hand, he silently.. that is, hitting everybody lining the pew.. wandered down an aisle. To find someone to take as his first victim...  
  
.. Aha. A Raticate male was sitting, legs over a pew. Out of place in the temple - the Zapdos one, out of convenience - but then the place had AC, as was mentioned, and nobody could give a damn. "Hey you.." Sneaker said. "Actually, wait a minute." And behind a pillar he hopped a second. The rodent looked up.. and shrugged. "Eh?"  
  
So, here it went. "I should put this on first, I guess." Sneaker thought. As, shrugging, he examined the bell one last time.. and, so as to avoid all the tension that could be strung onto this moment.. he put the bell on. And instantly fell over, a tight and somewhat painful burning nicely rife in his system. He couldn't avoid shouting, really.  
  
As a number of things went around at the same time.. so they did; the world spun about, the ground shifted under him, the world grew about him, the floor took a new stop, and the pillar.. didn't move, it being a pillar. He moved quite a bit, folling along the floor, paying no attention to anything and anyone.Well, anything that wasn't himself and whatever this was. He had been deceived, that was it.  
  
Pop, the image diluted and he was back to being perfectly unpained. A brief appearance, that had the whole room silent.. though that was obvious; he'd been screaming like a loon. However, things were murmured, and chatting began again. That's the part Sneaker didn't get.  
  
*It's a wonder nobody came over..* he thought. He shifted his hands forward in front of him and lefted himself up.. onto his feet. And stared a little, for those were small hands. Black ones, even. And his clothes were a quiet roan and weren't even burned. But the hands.. wiry fur, black. He didn't like them. What did his colour have to do with anything..?  
  
Then another thing was obvious. The pew was not quite as low as he saw it last. And he yelped a little, before just quietly thinking and wondering..  
  
*I'm.. tiny. Hi people, I'm the ten year old bundle of annoyance, hide your teenagers and watch your car tyres.. I can't do anything like THIS.*  
  
Surprisingly, he took this rather well, even though he wanted to promptly shout and make everybody notice. Hidden side effects..  
  
The Raticate had finally took the initiative. Nobody else really wondered.. They'd looked over. Just a kid being silly. Whose folks would take care of that.. eventually. So, he got up, and looked about. That other guy had cleared pretty quick.. not surprising. He didn't look the sort to deal with this. "Hey.. Something up?"  
  
Sneaker eyed. It was that guy again. He was not in the mood to deal with a few things right about now, so, he said so. "Leave me alone. It's not a good day." said the high pitched voice. Still catlike, and that's all Sneaker could find solace in. What EXACTLY was the aim of all this..? But he didn't know that this hadn't been fully realised yet..  
  
"Yeah well, you're disturbing everyone, miss. Whether they'll say anything or not."  
  
Da. "Say what...?"  
  
"I said your shouting is making everyone annoyed. Shouldn't you be in like.. school, or something?"  
  
"No, I don't mean that, dummy. You called me miss."  
  
"You're a funny one." And he went away... at which point Sneaker ran as fast as the carpet would make possible. To some place where they had water.. such as the font at the front of the hall, next to the big looming statue. Hopping over the edge, where.. equally wiry hair trailed in. Mmhmm, the guy was right. And Sneaker.. 'she'.. was stuffed.  
  
And the string of expletives thereafter made four people faint, and defiantly halted all noise, before the young cat just... plummeted from her spot, with a rather dull, hollow, and badly sounded, *thud*.  
  
To which the Raticate - he'd talked to her, he was now associated with her in the loosest possible way - wandered over. "Hey.. are you okay? There anything I can do for you..?"  
  
Eyes wide open. Of course! Whatever it had done, whatever she, he, it, them, whatever the heck pronoun.. was.. This was what was promised! "Yeah. I want you to bend down and lick my feet clean." she said.  
  
".. Are you sure?" he said, questioningly.  
  
"I said it." she goes. "Now do iiiiit."  
  
The handy little powers of that bell hopped in here.. suddenly his perception of things altered, and down got the rodent, and with that tongue, started cleaning the feet of Sneaker.. and it tickled, but she was staring just intently. And then it hit her in the head. Like a brick from a ceiling.   
  
Holy..  
  
"If there's one type of being in a world most likely to have their words obeyed fully.. who is it? It's a young girl! Young enough to do things that nobody really cares about.. and yet.. old enough to make a noise when not getting 'her own way'.. .." Sneaker shrugged. "Someone like that with my attitude. This world is mine."  
  
The Raticate continued. "You know, you can tell me to stop any time."  
  
"I could, couldn't I."  
  
The possibilities rolled their way into thoughts, and she just decided to sit there and let this guy clean off her feet. This might not be quite -AS- bad... but still.. He could always take it off, could he not?  
  
"Hey.. Are you lost or something?" called a random voice from behind her. "I can go find someone for you.."  
  
"I was told to wait here." she said. "If you don't mind buying me a few boxes of pizza and bringing them in dressed like a slice of pepperoni.. could you?"  
  
"... That's a tall order. Nah, I don't think I could do that. But I think.. maybe someone else will. Yeah, someone else. I'll go get the person that will." And off he went.. thinking.. Wow, wouldn't -this- be a nice surprise for the little girl? Surely that was worth something?  
  
Sneaker already knew this, of course. u.u Success was guaranteed. The cackle was reduced to a giggle, but.. it still meant the same thing, and the temple echoed it rather nicely.  
  
***  
  
Around nine hours later, the Temple was less full. The Raticate was still here - Sneaker found that intriguing - her feet were cleaner than the plate she'd eat off. "You can stop now." she said. And he did. And he walked out, not saying a word.. nor pulling his tongue back into his mouth.  
  
And it dawned on Sneaker.. right there. The bell decided it was time to let her cope on her own.  
  
*By the way, you're not yourself any more. In fact you're female, small, black, suggestive.. and you're cute, too.*  
  
"Is this really what I asked for?" she wondered, aloud, to the bell. "I mean.. I have to grow up again. From the other side! I'm going to be traumatised forever!"  
  
*So what else is new. You get beaten up daily. Traumatic?*  
  
"You have no say in this. Be quiet."  
  
The dark bothered her, and it was pretty dark. It never bothered the late, great, Sneaker before. "But I liked me. I worshipped me. I adored me. I like me. I love me. I want me back."  
  
*Ah, don't be such a wuss.*  
  
"How old am I physically? Don't I have the RIGHT to be one?"  
  
*No. No, you don't. Because you're still you. You can love this you, instead. It's very easy to do. She has cat ears. Me-yow.*  
  
"Um.. So did I?"  
  
*... You talk too much.*  
  
And the bell went silent there. Sneaker decided that.. well, she'd sleep here tonight. Even if she could tell the bloodthirsty axe murderers to go annihilate themselves, and they'd obey.. it didn't feel right. "Can't I just take this off?"  
  
No answer. If she did that, maybe she'd not be able to put it back on again. No, the world was too near.. and she'd have to learn to get along. She'd get by... And besides....  
  
"I wonder if I get my old self back as a reward for taking the world. Wow, my old self is the grand prize in something like that. I feel special now! Thanks mister!"  
  
This mental state needs to go into remission, thought she. Before thoughts turned to jelly and pink flamingos. Sleeeep. 


	2. Reka Tests

The dreams lasted until next morning.. where Sneaker woke up, clammy and cold, even through fur. The whole carpet she'd been sleeping on, as well, was wet.. especially under her roan clothing, which was actually a dress. She recalled seeing a ribbon in her hair, too. Odd things. But the wetness bothered her, and she stood up.. and wondered. "I didn't really..." before looking around, trying not to blush, even through fur.  
  
Behind her, the font sat, tipped over. It was empty now, though, but that's only because she'd been sitting in what came out of it. Apparantly, these things weren't moored to the floor. "Sheesh.. go me. I don't think I'm quite -that- young, come to think of it.."  
  
Still. Today was probably going to be another hot day, which meant more people to victimise and prod into doing her every bidding. Sneaker had become accustomed to this, but one thing remained to be answer; what would work as a name..? She believed at least some people remembered -the- Sneaker, and it might not do to draw attention to some things. But.. the question.. "I love my name. I'm not going to part with it for this..  
  
*You are, you know. You can either pick one, or I'll pick one. And my picking is final.. because I don't leave any memory of your old one, so you've no choice.*  
  
Le gasp. Sneaker could not part with the memory of her own name. That would be most unfair! That name is worthy of the Sneaker, the him. Still.. She had to concede, and so she put forth all of her collected cognitive effort into working out what could possibly work.  
  
"Rekaens."  
  
*That's just Sneaker backwards, you dimwit!*  
  
"So? Reka is a misspelling of a girls name, if you like! I don't see why you care, anyway."  
  
*Ptth, fine. Be Reka. I don't suppose you'll need the full name too often, anyway.. everyone'll shorten it even if you don't.*  
  
"Think I want to call myself a backwards Sneaker?"  
  
*That makes you forwards again, by the way.*  
  
And you can't argue with that.  
  
So.. Reka (as we shall learn to call her) looked about the temple. Nobody here that wasn't asleep themselves, so.. off she went. Early pickings around the city.. as people would be waking up, and going about their routine right now. This meant heading back towards the city.. something done at a healthy run - that resembled a skip, much to Reka's strange glances at the passing-by of the sands and the stony embankment.  
  
The city wasn't busy. Not that we'd expect it to be. Not so much a city since very few cars actually were here at all; nobody bothered. A few bikes, some walkers, one unicyclist (Reka stared, and decided such people were better left to their own) and.. her. The bell jangled as she skipped along, not really loudly, but enough so that people she passed would turn.  
  
Whether they thought about her much, or considered; "Gee, I wonder what I can do for her right now.." .. the little kitty didn't much know. Her hair blew back, and she actually felt clean for once.. a feeling, okay, though rather unusual. She had liked the dirt, it carried the lived in smell, and annoyed people some more.  
  
Target sighted. She didn't know why she'd pick people, but.. it worked. This guy was listening to a headset - and though the music was unknown to her from this distance, she seemed like she might know it. It was a guy, a human.. easy pickings, as far as she was concerned. So, waltzing up like the world was her oyster (which it WAS), Reka tapped him on the side.  
  
"Hmm?" He turned, and.. his eyes glistened just as he caught sight of Reka. She noticed it immediately, and honed in for the kill, without really trying. "Hey, you seem like a nice enough guy. Would you mind doing something for me?"  
  
Reka didn't know if her bell was effective enough that she could just demand things be done. It might be, but.. this way was ever so slightly more fun. "Uhh.. Yeah. What is it?"  
  
Let's see.. what can we test.. Start simple. "Can you give me some money? Just for a little while..." Little being definable as forever, but this human wouldn't really care. "Sure.. how much..?" Waver in his tone. Perhaps she needed to try, to avoid this. Feeling like she'd fail.. that was not good.  
  
"Uh, I dunno.. Best give me all of it, to be sure." she said, beaming. The beam seemed to help, because even this rather strange and unreasonable demand got a nod. "Yeah, I guess.. I should note that I need that back at some point, but you don't look like the sort that needs telling.." he went off in a little dreamlike voice, before handing a number of bills over to   
  
Reka. Enough to prove this wasn't just generosity, anyway.  
  
"Ooh.. Yeah! You'd be just the guy for this next one, as well! If you want?" Reka cackled inwardly. Want? What is that? Her regime has no place for petty 'want' of anyone that.. isn't her, of course..  
  
"Well.. Yeah. Depends what it is, though." It didn't, he'd do it, but.. one must go through the motions. The guy had no idea why he'd give all his money to this young meowth morph, but.. it didn't seem wrong.  
  
"It goes kinda like this..."  
  
***  
  
Reka was happy. The second test had gone okay, as well. Doing something completely against nature, and self-dignity. That's why she was currently being chaired up the mountain behind the city, by a human.. dressed in a Nidorina costume. The effect was useless, but nobody had taken notice. After all, people are allowed to do somewhat stupid things in the aim of letting children have a good time. "You know, this is quite a long way up.." said the guy. In a differing voice, even - she'd been insistant on that. "It's not much farther! You're doing great!"  
  
And it wasn't. A midpoint of the mountain held a large cliff, which just towered over nowhere and did it rather well. Reka got off, and patted the Nido-cosplay on the head. "Thanks. Do that noise one more time, then.. just for show."  
  
"Riii!" came the reply. "You have some odd ways of fun, but I'm sure all you kids do these days.."  
  
Yeah, yeah. Test three. One of a slightly less fair nature. "Hm. You know, you look trusting enough to do this next one. Maybe."  
  
The Nido tilted his head.. and then removed the head part of the costume, revealing his slightly painted face there. "Hm?"  
  
"Jump off the cliff."  
  
The guy looked sheepish there. "That sounds like a bad idea."  
  
"Do it for meee?"  
  
She hadn't actually expected him to do it, that would have just been strange. But, to her utter surprise and instant spot panic.. he stood up, took himself to the edge, and fell off it. And immediately started shouting, as people generally do when in freefall without any form of parachute.  
  
"Hey. HEY! You weren't supposed to do that! GET BACK UP HERE!" she shouted after him, uselessly.. That wasn't her intention. Making guys go splat on the floor is a bad idea generally, it draws attention.. but she was going to do it, oh yes. Here's to the overcuriosity of the young child.  
  
"Now why did I expect that to work again..? Oh, wait.. I even said it to him. 'Whether it kills them or not'. Jeez, I didn't think.."  
  
She sat down. Today was going to be strange. The screaming had stopped. Reka supposed she should let someone know.. but keep the money. Maybe she'd need it for a lawyer. That thought died instantly.  
  
She watched the birds flying in the sky from her nice elevated position.. before leaning over the cliff, looking down. Too far down to see anything, really. Still, who needs to see? Turning back up to the air, she watched the blue.. and just stared at it, like it had all the answers.  
  
Her view was masked for a while by something covering it. Sitting up immediately.. Oh hey. It was one of those dumb birds she'd just looked at. "Aagh! Lean on a cliff grieving someone and you're treated like a ledge. Get off!"  
  
It hopped off immediately, before speaking in pretty average speak for a Pidgeotto. *I came back up, like you said.*  
  
Wait.  
  
"You..." The world suddenly ceased to make sense. That blue felt good to look at.  
  
*You told me to jump off the cliff, then you said get back up. So I did.*  
  
"But.. but but but that can't happen." Reka wailed slightly.  
  
*And adult male arrogant Meowths don't suddenly become nine year old girls. But since when did I care about anything like THAT?* went the bell in her head. Yeah, this sounded fair, but.. Oh wow, the possibilities just got bigger.  
  
*Need anything else?* the Pidgeotto went, spreading his wings like he'd had them forever. But we knew better. Reka's stomach was lurching, but.. this would be coped with. Such power.. That statue was so not kidding.  
  
"Nah. I think I'm done. Go rejoin your flight, they might leave without you." Reka said, needing a rest from the order giving for just a while. *Sure thing.* he said, before taking back off. Seemed so natural.. and the young feline didn't know why. Did he have any idea of the past? Maybe he just accepted it. Kinda like she'd almost done back at the temple. What with the self-explaining stuff...  
  
"I'm confused now. I wonder if I can control this.. Maybe I can just tell someone flat out, and stuff'll happen. Well.. I suppose the world does become mine in the light of this." she considered. And suddenly.. everything felt better. "And I saved that guy. Well, yeah, I saved him. That's that."  
  
Reka glossed over the details purposely. It was so much easier to do. And she realised that she needed to get down from here. So maybe she did have one more use for the birdie. But.. they were too far away now. She couldn't shout that loud. So.. "I get to walk down?" Correct. She started walking.  
  
***  
  
It had taken too long, but.. she got back just in time for the sun to stop down in the sky. Mid-afternoon. Reka would do well to remember to have a Plan B next time she even considered climbing that thing.. She was pretty exhausted. It was, however, still daytime, and she hadn't even been to the beach yet. Certain people might be there that need a little bit of ordering about..  
  
She still had that guy's headset, too. Apparantly he'd been listening to the Hamster Dance. Which Reka knew rather distinctly, since it had been the deity's song of choice in her dream.. Hm. Maybe she should honour this deity   
  
with the same song. Some wondering thoughts crossed her mind, as she wandered off towards the beach.. omitting to skip, as her fatigue was slightly too high for that right now.  
  
Sand shifted under her feet again, but she ignored it. The wiry black kittygirl was busy checking if anyone was here that was here the other day... and, surprise, there was. Which made this part worth it. As well as time for another test.. She made a beeline for the nearest and only source of music playing on the beach.. a sound blaster that someone owned and had on low. It was Reka's want that this be changed.  
  
The abrupt halt to the music made those around her notice instantly. "Don't worry about it." she offered. So they didn't. She changed the song for the one on the CD she put in herself.. flicking to the track it was, still low for now.. And then. Test four would be.. can we order everyone around with one command? She pushed play, and sunk the volume button pretty close to complete deafness.  
  
In the blank before the song started; "Hey everybody! Dance!" took the auditory trip about the whole gathering... so that when the thing started playing.. they did. Oh, they did. Reka even did too, but because she wanted to. It was a fun thing to do, and besides, she could actually watch the ten-foot Charizard guy spinning along to it. Although.. maybe a suggestion wouldn't hurt.  
  
"Hey, tall guy. Sing along."  
  
The resulting two-octave-too-low series of doots and de-doos send Reka into a rather uncontrolled fit of laughing.. so, while she did this, the world continued dancing. People that didn't hear Reka were just stood on the boardwalk.. and staring.  
  
A few of the lesser built morphs dropped out after a while. She didn't order them back up, for plain reasons. This was quite funny, and.. Reka decided to suggest to an onlooker up at the boardwalk that maybe it'd be a nice thing to put in the news.  
  
When all was said and done, though.. Reka was about to fall asleep. It wasn't evening, it was just her nice effervescent dancing in front of the TV cameras that did it, along with everyone else, who were gradually going to drop out anyway. So at least nobody would go on forever. It was good to know. She could, therefore, sneak away without needing to tell people to stop.  
  
Something she did.. heading for the safe confines of her apartment - in the dusky Powers block. Probably not a place most suitable for Reka, but she could care less. She lived there, and it was safer than sleeping in public, anyway. Not that she'd be in any danger.. unless they got her while asleep, without words..  
  
Though, of course, the main highlight of today's dream was a mentally hybridised version of that Charizard doing the hamster impression. Class. She even giggled as she slept.  
  
***  
  
No real light could do much to Reka's room at this point. A musky mess of the previous life's mess and her current state.. the black haired kittygirl was just laid spreadeagle without bothering to cover. Not that she undressed at all anyway; that roan dress as all she had. The bell tinkled a little as her head moved about the room, eyes tilting a little to adjust to the light.  
  
Today probably needed to have purpose. The purpose she had the bell for, at least in her eyes.  
  
"I suppose this is all well and good.. but how do I continue from here? And why am I even considering this a minute after waking up? Gyeehh.."  
  
The ceiling responded by shedding plaster into her barely open face. That got her up.  
  
--  
  
The room spun a little, but Reka was fine with that; the plaster had been wiped away, curses mumbled at the ceiling and at certain repetitive deities (and that had got another piece of the ceiling off, but it missed!) .. She had to do some planning, of the nature she was meant to go for. World conquest. She could begin with the island; they still didn't have a governor. Wouldn't be hard to get that.  
  
"My entire campaign could be just a radio and TV commercial in the middle of prime time. I say 'vote for me, Reka', and then I win. Wouldn't cost me a thing, either." Reka considered. "But maybe the flashiness of a proper campaign would be worth it. Just for those people without a TV or a radio. What do I do about people without hearing, though? Sign language? Writing?"  
  
*Tell them to hear you. And they will.*  
  
Reka mumbled. "That's a paradox, though.. What if they don't -have- ears? How do they acknowledge an order they can't hear?" That sounded wrong.  
  
*Let me put it another way. If you told someone to turn into a bird and fly back up that cliff, how would -hearing it- help them to do that?*  
  
*The fact you said it displaces an effect. The bell makes the effect. So as long as you think they can hear you.. they will do.*  
  
Reka thought, and thought... and then shrugged. "You're winding me up, aren't you."  
  
*Good girl. If you write it for them to see, it'll count. Has to be your writing, though. Your order.*  
  
"I'll deal with it later. How many deaf people can they have on this island anyway?!" Reka wondered.  
  
*Fine! Destroy all my speech with your logic.* the bell conceded, before shutting up again.  
  
The black kitty was really getting sick of that.. Though, there's nothing she could do about it really. She could learn to live with it. "So.. I have to find out how that whole governor thing is going. There's got to be an office somewhere...?" Reka wondered. And then remembered.. There was a map in this apartment somewhere.  
  
And so, she whittled through cupboards and drawers.. in the attempt to find this. Maybe it'd help, and maybe she'd just mess the place up. Either way, it was fun to do. But, it was (eventually) the last thing she found, and clearing space on the bed with a swipe.. a swipe that put a clawmark in the mattress, anyway.. she spread the map out. Not big, but she didn't think much of holding a big piece of paper out.  
  
"Let's see.. This apartment is the bloodstain there.. and.. uh.. There's the beach, and there's the blood forest, and there's the mountain, and..." And she saw it, pretty much dead centre. "And there's the mansion where the governor generally lives. They'll know there where I can go."  
  
It seemed odd that this young girl should go perusing over maps and stuff instead of being hyper and all that other stuff before.. but unknown to Reka, the bell had been filing away at that dimwit edge that Sneaker had so well covered. And it had quite a lot more to do yet.. Hey, to have a successful power relies on the being involved. That had been proven already..  
  
Map under the arm, the girl pulled out that wad of money she took from the guy-gone-flying the other day. And then.. remembered. "If I want something, I just ask for it. What's the point?" A small pause. ".. The point is that I like the feel of money on my being, of course. In pocket you go." It went. Reka took one look at the place.. the shambles she'd left, anyway.  
  
"Maybe tonight I'll be in the mansion.. but you have served me well, my home. May people stay out of your way forever, and may ceilings not untimely fall onto mine head." She hopped backwards, expectedly, and right into the falling plaster... and she cursed, before just wandering out the door. Realisation Day had arrived. Now to make everyone else believe it.. 


	3. Reka For Governess!

Reka hadn't realised how early it actually was. A low sun meant much of the light around the city was red, and a lot of it was bathed in an almost twilight-quality shadow. Still, people were walking around, as they generally did. Quite a number were morphs taking off.. apparantly something about this time would attract the birds from around the city.  
  
So it was mostly a blanket of odd feathers and morph bodies across the half-lit sky that the girlkitty watched as she went along, just toeing her way about the streets, heading in what she believed was the right way. And she could read a map, whether or not anyone believed such. .. This is, of course, precisely why she was going the wrong way. But we'll gloss over this.  
  
"Wow, I've lived here this long now, and I think I'm lost.." she conceded, some time later. This was about the time she'd passed the bar for the fifth time. Walking in circles was not her idea of progress. "They should put arrows up, that'd help.."  
  
"You lost?" came the short reply from behind her. To which she turned. A young Espeon morph stood there, actually on all fours there. A tattered shirt was all he had on.. and the blackcat didn't really mind this at all. "I know this city real well."  
  
"Yeah, I bet you do.. I'm looking for the governor's place. Know that?" she asked him?  
  
"No." He began to say that, anyway. ".. Huh? You ask me where it is and I never been there, I don't know... but I do now? Who are you?" The Espeon skipped a circle around Reka before she could say a word. "You're not what you seem!"  
  
"I'm Reka. And that's more than I really needed to say. If you know where it is, couldn't you be so kind as to tell me..?" Reka noticed her own words. She had, in effect, told him to know that.. and he had. That had to be watched in the future.  
  
"Yes. Yes I could. It's just north a while, and on the east. Biggest place you'll see." he replied.  
  
It occurred to Reka that she should check whether the statement was this psy detecting that she was, indeed, something more than first looks.. "What do you mean 'I'm not what I seem'..."  
  
"Well.. you're not a pokemon. Like me. You're.. I don't know. You're something else."  
  
Tch. What was this.. "I'm not a pokemon, I'm a -morph-. Just like you."  
  
"No! I'm a pokemon! Always have been!" was the quick, and manic reply. Reka spotted it in his eyes; someone shattered. Refusal to believe the truth.. just led to nice swift denial. Maybe she should pity him?  
  
*Pfft. Two days ago, you'd have done the same thing. Pity yourself some a little as well..* went the bell, and that Sneaker aspect of her personality, the one that knew Reka could do something for this guy.. shrugged, and led her away. "Whatever you say. Thanks for the help." After all.. the bell was right. She didn't help people.. She was, at least in spirit, the great Sneaker! Soon to be ruler of this land! Why would he matter, if he even stayed alive until after she seized this world in her tiny grip of iron. Sniff. Off she walked properly, leaving the guy repeating. "No, seriously, you should work on your walk a little.. you're walking like the humans do, and that's just not right... not right.."  
  
--  
  
Well, at least the building was where the crazy guy said it was. Big place, too.. done up all in brown, with an obvious sign outside. 'Current presiding Governor of Pokemorph Isle:' .. but after that it was blank. The place looked deserted, as well. That was kinda the point; there was no governor -to- live in the place. Reka wanted to change that. She skipped up the long and step-laden path; keeping her balance just fine, in order to wander to the door. A large, oaken thing, which was quite a head's height over the nine year old right then. Still, she didn't care. It didn't have powers beyond imagination. She did. er tail twinged once, and then she shifted forward a little, and hammered on the door.  
  
The knocks echoed, bringing the very sound to a nice resonance, within the house. There was a knocker up there, which rattled a little.. but it was all the way up there, and she was not of such a mood to try jumping for it. Not that her knocks needed it, because the door unbolted.  
  
Reka was leant on the door, then, and she got off just in time to avoid falling over again, as the large door swung to, revealing,, an open hallway. Which was then blocked by the figure of a morph.. a white, mid-age Arcanine, with fairly singed fur, and a rather broad and slightly bemused expression.  
  
"That was quite loud for such a little one. I'll give you that. I'm the caretaker of this place.. you were lucky to catch me in, really. What's your business at this place..?"  
  
"I want to know about who decides the governor for this place." she said, accent-laden, skipping past words quite quickly.  
  
"The Isle? Ohh.. well.. The people do. The citizens. We do, and you.. in a number of years, anyway. There isn't a governor right now, though.. I think they're worried about the Team and their backlash if we ever try to establish a proper authority on this Isle that isn't them. Something like that. You wouldn't get it."  
  
"I get you just fine. Don't patronise me, I'll be ten soon enough." Reka said. That last part was just a flick of speech.. really, it was.. The Arcanine chucked, in that stout way people sometimes do. "Yes.. I'm sure you are."  
  
"Anyway, mister doggy.. Say I wanted to become governor, and I do.. could you tell me where I go to get people to actually do something about it?"  
  
The firedoggy glanced. Heh. Children, what will they be doing next.. Still, he'd tell her. He had no choice. "There's an office that could deal with that. It organises the elections and stuff. It's one south of North Elm, and that's.. east as far as you can, and a little north. From here, anyway. I could take you there?"  
  
"Nah. I'll be okay. Thanks mister, you've helped me a lot. Don't be surprised if you see me here soon!" Yeah, a nice finishing line, just to seal that. She skipped quickly off down the stairs, before just softly and slowly heading in the direction mentioned. It was still too early..! She could afford to waste some time.. no office is open so early..  
  
The Arcanine's gaze followed her around the side of the building. Cute kitty. Maybe they could use someone like that in office around this place.. "Would make a change.." he thought...  
  
***  
  
The office was distinct in that it was nothing different at all. It didn't even have a name on the side, except for the letters EO on the front of the sliding doors into the place. Reka strode through, Princess Kitty, out for her kingdom.. EO probably stood for Elections Office or something like that, and this place was not a very active one.  
  
The hall was devoid of life.. save for a single receptionist, who wasn't doing a great deal. Probably waiting for someone else to come in and do what Reka was about to do.. stride up to the front of the hall. The top of the counter towered over, so she.. hopped up and sat on it, much to the surprise of the young adult Slowbro female that was sat there.  
  
A suit was what she wore; with the lower back missing to allow for the symbiotic Shellder, a nonmorphed one, to sit latched on to her tail. It didn't do a great deal, with wouldn't ever; but it didn't matter all that much.  
  
"Err.. Is there something you want?" she asked Reka, a little surprised still.  
  
"I want to become governor. Tell me what I do." the wiry kitty said, plainly. The Slowbro.. took this in her stride. Kids were getting mentally older each day, weren't they..  
  
"Well.. There's a lot we have to do for that.. We need some other people to vote for.. then we need to make up voting slips.. let people campaign for a while.. set dates, get television coverage.. These things generally take some months. But at least you've come here, that's a start." she said, slightly tired. She wasn't being serious in her telling this kid what was what.. not yet, anyway.  
  
"I want you to register me as a candidate. That can be done, hm?" Suddenly.. it could. The Slowbro looked through the piles of nicely stacked paper she had.. There had to be something in here about -age- for this sort of thing...  
  
"I.. I can't find anything against it, actually. ure.. I'll get on that. Give me your name, address, and some other details, and.. start building your campaign. We won't let you start until we have everyone.. which could be in around.. half a year. Not long, respectively."  
  
This would not do. Reka wanted things to happen now. Not in six months. And she said so. "I want things to happen now, though. Like we have all the candidates, and most of them have dropped out and that leaves.. two! Me and some other person.. who could be.. you! Yeah, you. And so there's only us two left and we have only two days of campaigning and then the vote date comes. I want that, I want that. I WANT IT TO HAPPEN!"  
  
And.. nothing more was said. Reka, meanwhile, looked around. Everything was silent. Not so much because she'd made it so; the place was empty. But then.. the Slowbro wasn't moving. She was sitting there.. and staring. ".. .. I ... Yes. I can do that." And suddenly the young woman's eyes went white. Reka then eyed.. Could she really do what had just been said?  
  
*Nope. But we don't care, remember? By the way, you don't appreciate what you've just done. Sleepybye for you for a few minutes.* A sickening pain racked through Reka's head, and everything spun out of being.. as she toppled from her perch on the desk. And the world saw itself fit to do precisely what had been said.  
  
***  
  
An indiscriminate amount of time passed before the little Meowth morph woke from her induced sleep. It was a hazy awakening, but she did it.. The carpet was grey and it smelled faintly of leather.  
  
People were walking past. The place was busy, quite busy. Workers were coming in with bits of paper, and the reception actually had a TV camera sitting in it. "How long have I been out..?" she wondered, aloud.  
  
"Just a second, miss Reka." went one of the people walking along. "You hit your head or something..?"  
  
Reka didn't know this person. But they knew her. "Uhh.. Nope, I'm just a little groggy. Lack of sleep. I've been busy."  
  
"I should say you have. But it'll pay off soon enough, miss Reka. Good luck, if I don't see you before the day.. and I won't, I'm working on ballot staff." the voice, which was just a Bulbasaur male now that Reka could see it, spoke, before wandering off. And the black haired female just looked around, and wondered.. before hopping back on the counter.  
  
The Slowbro female was still here, just looking at the camera that was trained on the both of them. She then turned to Reka. "That was sudden.. Are you okay?"  
  
"Yeah, I'm just fine. What is all this?"  
  
"You did hit your head. We're being interviewed, of course. There's two days before the first election in a year and you're one of the candidates.. and I'm the other. Quick rundown for your memory.. I don't want this interview to reflect badly on any of us. People adore you, you're the adorable type.. but eh, I've said I'm supposed to be the adult voice of reason. And the camera's getting all of this."  
  
Uh.. What happened here. "I came to you just now.. asking for an election to take place in two days?"  
  
"You came to me six months ago and asked me for the election. I fancied my chances, but I only got in because three of the candidates withdrew. The fourth was found in the bay three days ago. We're all that's left. You should know this, it's been your life for the last few months..." she said. "Or maybe it hasn't. I don't know how bothered you really are about all this, being so young.."  
  
"Seriously bothered. I'm thinking too hard for myself and everyone these days. I need to just win this and relax." Reka said, her mind clicking. Touche, was the look from the Slowbro.  
  
*Worked it out yet?* the bell said, in her head. Reka thought back at it.. slightly wondering. *I wasn't even HERE six months ago!*  
  
*I was Sneaker then!* The bell sighed. *Do we care?*  
  
Reka's eyes widened, and she really -did- feel groggy.. *We needed a Reka here six months ago. So we had one. Trouble is, you're Reka. You were Sneaker then. Our best hope to get this paradox resolved... is to make it simple. And that was easy. You found the bell two days ago... as Reka. You've never been anything other than Reka.*  
  
"Oh my god." was all she was able to say at that time. And she said it out loud, too.  
  
"You're not even listening, are you.. C'mon, everyone knows children have the attention spans of Magikarp." the Slowbro took it to her advantage to say.  
  
"I'm not a morphed evolution of the stupidest being on the planet, though. Slowpokes don't think up many new things, do they..?"  
  
That kept her quiet for a while. Reka went back to thought.  
  
*So what about Sneaker?*  
  
*Sneaker? Who's that? You tell me.*  
  
And Reka... could not. Just.. couldn't. The answers were out of reach, but they were only half there. Though the name was obvious, and that was it. Like a blank space. *But.. that's not fair! I can't go back to how things were now! Ever!*  
  
*You messed up. You could probably undo this, but then you'd have to wait months. And as a side note.. taking off the bell wouldn't restore your form. And it definitely won't now, since there's nothing to restore it -to-. Test me if you like.. I'm not lying.*  
  
Reka needed air. "Can I halt this now?" she asked the camera.  
  
"We just did." went the guy behind it. "You can both go now."  
  
"I work for my living, and that doesn't change even while I'm campaigning." the Slowbro said, eyeing Reka, and going back to putting papers in nice, tidy piles. Reka got up and ran - no skipping - out of the building, and through the maze of people that were swarming outside, most of who tried to get her attention. 


	4. Reka Makes A Friend

Addition disclaimer: Tatikyas is also © me. I don't know why I involved one of my own characters in this, but it can't be bad. Can it? This is a pretty long chapter, I generally have too much to say in these situations..  
  
---------  
  
Reka stared at the waters edge by the beach. She'd fought to get a quiet spot, where nobody would bug her. It upset her that what made -her- different from the little girl down the street is that she had the personality of some guy that never existed. And she loved Sneaker, and the fact they were the same being helped a lot with that.  
  
Her reflection stared back up from the water, practically as forlorn. The bell was in the reflection, too.. and it mocked her, openly. Yeah, so she'd messed up.. She didn't ask for something as wrong as that to occur.  
  
Staring at herself.. she just watched herself speak. "You know, reflection.. I think you, me, we, would like Sneaker to have existed. It'd give me something to do."  
  
*You're smarter than I give you credit for.* went the bell. Reka didn't know why, until... -something- triggered. And she couldn't stop herself saying to the reflection, which was her.. "Ok, I'll do that.."  
  
Do what? What could she do, it was all hopeless, really.. she couldn't do anything. Nope. The group around her wasn't brightening unnaturally either, and her eyes weren't becoming the same white she'd just seen. She saw that in the reflection, and.. the silent wonder became spoken. "I can order myself to do things?"  
  
Paf, it was like the Second Coming. A new history wrote itself a place in Reka's mind, in history, in -being-. It worked, and it existed, and Sneaker was.. well, had.. existed. He was not resigned to a forgotten name somewhere in the mind of a young child.  
  
Reka sat at the water's edge, and just recited it to herself as it 'happened' to place itself into her thought.. "Reka had always existed.. A girl without a past, someone perpetually nine, just someone.. The bell Sneaker found two days ago, it caused.. well, it caused a union. It did. And this means that.. he existed, and I existed.. and it's so perfect and I love this bell thank you!"  
  
And she giggled.. and, well, fell into the water, where she struck the bottom, turned over, and got the roan dress thoroughly soaked. It didn't matter.. things were fairly good right now. And she had her own way, with a little manipuation. And she'd soon be governor! Life was okay.  
  
One of the things people had said as she was running fron the Elections Office struck her thought just then. She had to appear on TV and radio at the same time tomorrow.. That was good. This was good. It meant she could tell people to vote for her.. and they WOULD! Not that she wasn't a better candidate than that Slowbro woman.. the interview proved that to her right there and then...  
  
She could rule this place, though, guaranteed. That was the thing.  
  
Happy mood. Happy happy double happy. Which is why, someone came onto the deserted stretch of beach, and it roused Reka. She should probably go tell people to vote for her, but she looked up first.  
  
Running along the beach, without much concern for the besodden little kitty, was a Raichu. Black clothing, tan fur, brown hair, dead tail, left-side head scar. Old guy. And Reka knew this one from the temple, that came back to her mind straight away. "Wasn't he the one that threw the shoe..?"  
  
Raichu ears picked this up immediately. Tatikyas - that being his name - stopped, and turned to the direction of the young kitty.. Nope, don't know her. On we go. And the running started once more.  
  
"Stop." she said, grinning a nice, cute, and almost evil smile. And.. the zapmouse stopped. He just did, and wondered why he'd stopped, even himself. Before he turned back to Reka.. and tilted his head. "You want something?"  
  
"Yeah, I do. Come over here a minute." Ahh, the wonders of this bell brought tears to her eyes to consider the number of things she could possibly do to this guy. Not even crying tears.. it was more like the brink of laughter. And he spotted this instantly.  
  
"You're up to something.. I mean, I want to walk over there now, for no reason. So I'm just going to, like that. I don't follow your orders." he said, as he walked over there.. looking either which way. The raichu, this particular raichu.. had a higher sense of self than even the egotists did. So it isn't surprising he noticed when doing things that.. he just wouldn't do. Of no help to him was this particular fact, however..  
  
"You never know. But I'm not the sort that could pull one over on a first gen, mister.." she spoke, tilting her own head.. and getting up off the floor. To still be almost two feet below this guy.  
  
Tatikyas just grumbled, and looked down at this.. well, somewhat cute.. little girlkitty. Unfazed, really. "So, what do you want..?"  
  
"Tell me about yourself. Be brief, and be honest." Reka wanted to know how best to get at this guy.. and the bell was chipping in thoughts, too. After all, they were working towards a common aim; making someone really not so very happy.  
  
*Looks like one of those big guy types. Seasoned fighter, self-centered even more than you are.. competely uncaring, and lacking fun, really.* was the bell's synopsis.  
  
"My name's Tatikyas. I'm what you see. I'm of the First, and I don't do much with my days. I beat people up if they really want me to, but otherwise I keep out of their way. I can't do anything else, nothing really fits. Not even talking to little girls and telling them all about me for no reason. Look, if you're going to do something, just say it." was the reply.. and Tatikyas tried to resist. Really, he did. But it wasn't going to happen.  
  
Reka had a touch of the unfair just then. Immediately, she narrowed her eyes, and glanced at this guy, remembering. This person had the gall to throw a shoe at _Sneaker_, back when that's who she was. He had something to say but no, he was not allowed to say it because -this- guy thought he was better than the _great_ Sneaker. How dare he even exist.. this.. well, not that big, but respectively.. .. -mouse-.  
  
"Mice should be less than me.. Down and down, where they belong.." was the murmur. "Under the feet of those chosen, under the whims of those higher up the food chain. And yet you're not! You don't fit! I hate things that don't fit!" Reka vented at him.. for no reason. It was an exercise of the Sneaker personality, more than anything; her overjoyedness at getting it back being used to full effect.  
  
"You called me over to tell me that?" Tatikyas said, brushing her comments off his mind like someone would move animal waste from their shoe. Or so was the glance he returned, a dark black haze of nothing that stung of apathy.  
  
Reka needed to think up something good. Something.. that would make her on top. So.. she asked the bell, about an idea, a little consideration that had started right when she'd heard about this whole 'fighting' business..  
  
*It'd work, yeah. Just make sure you say your order properly.. because if you screw up, you put yourself in a sticky situation.* went the bell. Reka stood up to her full four-two height.. and looked right at this oversized zapmouse.  
  
"No, I want you to do something else. I'm going to hand you the bell, and you're going to put it on. And when I say so, whatever you may think otherwise of doing.. you will give me the bell back, and that will be all. Do you understand?"  
  
"Yeah. Why a cat bell? That's just humiliating.. It doesn't make sense to me." Tatikyas grinned. Even if he was under whatever psychic allure this girl had by even remaining here.. she was just a child, and children had strange ideas of severity. So.. he'd do it, just to humour her.  
  
Reka counted on it. So, gracefully, she took off the bell. The feeling of unease she'd felt a couple of days ago hadn't quite gone naturally yet.. but she could live with it. She offered out the bell, with its neck cord, and dark red shine. And the Raichu, he did take it, examining it first.. and offering a shrug. "If that's what you want.."  
  
So, without word.. he took the cord, split it into its proper loop, and threw the loop over his head, letting the bell settle on his chest.  
  
Sure, it didn't seem like much, until the biting of pain and its burning threw Tati into a forward lie, arms down, holding him up. But the raichu would not cry out; something he'd become accustomed to not doing a long time before any of this. Those hands thrashed a little, still holding him up. But their fur developed a white texture, all the same, and it spread up his arms.  
  
The raichu wouldn't actually -feel- a lot of it per se; Reka knew this. But she could watch; she could get an idea what had happened to her not two days before. Hey.. she -was- a cat. It was just simple curiosity.. that and this guy probably deserved the life he'd end up with afterwards. Without the bell, of course.. that one was reserved for -her-. And her only.  
  
The white spread like a plague, a strange plague that he could not even begin to imagine. And it ate everything.. even his clothes, although their texture, and their separation from his body, and his being, remained. Just.. white. White fur, white being. Ironic to Reka that one was white and one was black, though.. this guy, killer of numbers, apathetic, uncaring.. was probably meant to be black. Pfft.  
  
It happened a lot quicker than Reka was able to follow.. but she was trying. There was a lot to see in just a minute or two. The now white raichu rolled over a few times, onto his front. Even his tail, which wasn't even alive.. that was now a different shade. His hands were formless.. just mittens; the way they should be. But they were getting smaller; not a good sign.  
  
The flailing was obvious; Tatikyas's mind was living in a world of hurt just now, and the bell tingled as he rolled once again, supporting himself on small hands, with small arms... as his frame and his legs started to follow suit, their size dissipating into the air, or into nowhere. Nobody knew really. And nobody cared; it was just happening..  
  
Finally, a holler. Teenage in pitch. Something had clicked. His tail wasn't changing size.. it was just being dragged along for the ride. It wasn't healing up, though.. which would mean he'd still have it. The scar was, however. His height had gone considerably, and more was still to come. Reka could only hope he'd end up slightly younger than she. Something to gloat over, really.  
  
The blackcat had swapped position, anyway, in light of the rolling.. and she was just standing to one side. And not so much grinning as .. staring. In slight shock. This was distinct.. and so quick, considering the physiological impact this had to have. Almost hard to believe she'd done the same just two days earlier, in his indirect presence..  
  
The boy - yeah, that's what everyone's favourite raichu was right now - tried so much to stop himself up off the floor with his arms and bent legs. The clothes he was wearing were still of white texture and shape, though.. but, then again, this hadn't finished. He was still a raichu; although, the need for any burning and such intense pain had disappeared.. and the screech with it. For now.  
  
Reka took a look at him.. and decided to sum it up. He was about 7, and a purely white raichu.. but he was still male. That was unfair. Smaller than him, barely.. she surmised. She hoped, anyway. He certainly looked younger.. and she wandered over, believing this to be the end. Just like he did.  
  
Before a brightening and the refresher of a clenched-teeth mumbling noise threw Tati off his feet and back into a sit up. This was the part where things differed.. at least, partially. His white form glowed, and the silhouetted brightness tossed its head back. Reka thought.. and then knew what it was. Evolution.. going in reverse.  
  
Once, twice.. it wasn't going to stop just for an interim change. This part didn't pain, but it was very obvious to the morph in question what was happening. The ears, they shifted and became the quaint simplistic shape of a Pichu, and although his colourscheme darkened slightly - an offwhite - that couldn't be seen much really.  
  
"But he's still a him..!" Reka reminded the bell. Of course, that had to be the last thing to go.. and it had to disappear when he had full awareness. The bell knew that, she knew that. The final nail in the coffin of awareness, at least. Maybe he'd not make a fuss about it just afterwards.. maybe he'd give the bell back, walk away, and then cry himself to sleep.  
  
The light cleared, eventually.. leaving behind a whiter, and less furred pokemon at the end of it. Pichu, no less. Still white, with the odd off grey part around triangular ears and the neck, which just stuck back through the still mottled - and somewhat small and dwarfish - brown hair.  
  
The tail had actually shrunk a little.. but it was around the size of the pichu himself, four feet, and still a raichu tail, with a slightly creamier tailbolt, although still, the thing was dead. No function.  
  
Shaking, the now Pichu flailed some more, and one paw dug itself into the sands - which kept the pretty sand-covered Pichu in place, as the final thing happened. The body shifted itself in many places... while the hair lightened, changed texture, and lengthened to fall around the curved and young face in bunches.  
  
Eyes opened, widened, and a cute blue stared back out at the world, a world.. that now seemed bigger, and different to that it had been been before. Intimidating, even. The all-white fur changed its texture, becoming light and of feminine consistancy, at least. And one final flash would mark out the rest; the 'scream' was more of a giggle laugh... a haunting, rodent, femme laugh.  
  
Almost like it.. tickled, did the next bit. But, Reka couldn't see what was going on, she had to glance away. This soon stopped, though.. and her sense of completeness decided that, yes, that would be the end of it. So, back she turned. And the complete oddity of the situation grasped her fully at that moment.  
  
She'd just made that guy a seven year old pichu girl! Like how weird was that? And she was sat, in a sand crater of her own making.. in a green, floral-pattern dress. The brown hair of hers was tied back in an almost smart pattern, with two long and hanging bangs ribboned and lying in front of her. A black ribbon was present in the middle of the back of the hair, too, nicely between the Pichu ears, which seemed to shine from a thin sprinking of sand. No shoes, and all the fur was white, with intermiscent bits of soft brown, sand; She had been rolling a lot, after all.. The face was younger than it should probably have appeared, and it was just staring at Reka lightly.. The angry tone that came as she pulled the bell off - still under order - was just cute to consider. "What the heck have you done..!"  
  
Reka took the bell back, and looked at it; it was sandy, but it was better than not having it. A lot better. That had been quite refreshing, actually. Still without the influence of the bell.. she walked up to the Pichu girl, and they looked at each other.  
  
"I can't undo it." Reka said. "But you're able to adapt. You threw a boot at me a couple of days ago, but I can forgive you now."  
  
It would be lying to say she wasn't close to tears, really. "It's a bit late for it!" came the reply, before she stared.. "You're.. that guy..? But you lost yourself as well! How could you do that to me? You're not fair! This isn't fair!" she lamented.. looking cute as she did. Not that they could avoid doing so; that was the thing with this bell.  
  
Reka suddenly felt.. low. Low because she was aghast of the bell's grasp on her.. and really, that unease hadn't gone away. A whole flood of things came up now.. her love of Sneaker, that funny little guy who pissed off the world and survived... No more would he ever see the light of day, short of being stuck inside this little black girl who seemed incapable of getting people to disagree with her...  
  
And her own, green, eyes.. just glanced into the blue, and the blue back to the green.. and each showed empathy at the precise same moment, so it surprised none of them as, in a cute and somewhat harrowing moment, both parties collapsed into one another's embrace, both in fits of tears. Both causing another ocean, however small and quickly soaked up, to form inside the crater where Tati had once put on a bell.  
  
Comments flew past each side, just within the hysteria that both sides had put themselves into.  
  
"You're a lot prettier without that scar, anyway!"  
  
"I bet you've got a better voice like that, even so..!"  
  
"Black wasn't your colour..!"  
  
"White fur wasn't yours!"  
  
"You look like a white chocolate Pichu, how can you talk about my fur?"  
  
"And you look like a hairbrush! A really fancy one, like those ones you can only mail order!"  
  
And - in that curious way that little girls seem so damn good at, the mood hopped from complete despair.. to a fit of giggles, and laughing, as the two split the embrace, and fell over back into the sand, dustying up themselves just that bit more. Sure they could adapt. It was even easier when their new forms had mental states to go with them..  
  
"You are! That's the exact shade of milk chocolate!"  
  
"I seen the poodle-Growlithes groomed with things like you. I always wondered where they got that stuff.."  
  
This actually continued for quite a while, with comments not really differing from that sort of thing. It gave both sides a much needed convenience.. It gave them a rest from their unease. It set them right with what they were.. Much more so for Reka. The bell didn't exactly think all this cuteness was helping the 'take over the world' mood (and indeed, who would think it was..?), but perhaps.. it'd mean something. Like it would help Reka to talk people into things that much easier. Or something.  
  
Young children can always find something to occupy themselves in a place, as well.. and the two started dumping sand over one another, and that continued until the sun decided it was time for some shuteye, and hopped low in the sky, to tell everyone else this same message.  
  
***  
  
The two watched the sun, anyway. Stupid times; the pichu was distraught, the meowth had an election to win.. but they were doing it, all the same.  
  
"You know, Reka.. You started out this thing trying to hurt me, I guess. But it didn't really go like that, did it..?"  
  
"Yeah.. that's true. But, Saki.. it came out better. You're going to tell me you're happier now than you were and.. then you'll just go off and make a life out of it." Reka said. She had the bell on again, and it was moving a little, jangling by force of the nearby waves.  
  
"Maybe I could say that. Maybe. I don't know." Saki stood up and .. looked off at the distance. "I should get going. Too late for me to be out, maybe." she spoke, brushing her hair aside, ignoring the fact she was, technically, 40, and it didn't matter where or when she was inside her dilapidated house..  
  
"Maybe. Well, I definitely .. see, I do.. I think you need to get yourself an opinion, get yourself a liife.. and get moving, because I'm going as well. Or I'll sleep here. Yeah, I will." Reka said. This guy wasn't so bad.. now that she'd stripped him of his ego and turned him into a seven year old rodent female. Then again.. that can do strange things to a person...  
  
Saki had already started wandering off. Reka realised that she'd only had this on her mind for a few hours, and without the help of a mood-absorbing bell like hers. So she let the Pichu go, and she decided that.. she'd not go back to her home, and she'd not have ceilings fall on her. She'd stay here, and let the lapping of the waves make sleep appear. The sun was low even now.  
  
A random question was next into Reka's ears, just after then. "Hey, Reka..?" Saki, having stopped her wandering.. just with a question that she probably had to ask.  
  
"Hm..?"  
  
"Could you.. make my tail work again?"  
  
The question threw Reka off for just a second.. pulling her gaze from the waves to the Pichu girl. Hey, she hadn't even noticed the tail wasn't moving. But she looked at it. It was.. well, it was a small version of the one she had before today's main event. It wasn't a Pichu tail, but it wasn't moving, either. Reka decided.. hey, she could do something for her. It'd be easy.  
  
"I want you to move your tail. Without touching it. I'm sure you can."  
  
As typically happens when someone with the Bell says a statement like this.. Saki, after a brief pause.. shifted the tail from the floor, and sliced it through the air a few times.. giggling, a little, for reasons Reka might never know. "Thanks!" Then she just sort of skipped off, the way she'd been wandering.. for a few seconds, before the Pichu started walking again.  
  
Reka knew that feeling. Confusion. But confusion could go over time, and so could time itself. She noticed the sun again. Yes, it was still really low.  
  
It got a lot lower, but then Reka was asleep then, and so she stayed. And so ended the third day of the blackcat. The dreams mainly concerned fun, laughter, and.. tomorrow's impending TV show. Wow.. The more viewers, the more votes. And all she had to do was say so. *I wonder how many mainland politicians would like this bell..* was the thought. Which was answered. Not many. Those humans would probably die if they ended up like this.  
  
*Actually.. that might be fun to see...* 


	5. Reka's In Trouble?

More disclaimer: Joanna is © Nidonocu. And up until the posting of this chapter, he has no idea what I planned for his character. Some might say he was better off not knowing. n__n  
  
----------  
  
Day 4 broke, rather suddenly, a higher tide than before covering Reka in a nice and smothering saturation of water. Which, as it could be quessed, caused a frenzied blackcat to wake up with a yelp, which she did. "Heyy!"  
  
It was only mid-morning. No problem. But then, Reka remembered within the grogginess of just-woken consciousness that.. she had this television thing to go do. Quite soon, in fact. It wouldn't do her to be wet, but.. she'd dry off. That sun was still gracing the sky with its presence, and ousting away all the clouds. A few people were on the beach, even now; there were portions of the sand the tide had not yet got to.  
  
So, standing up and shaking off her fur and clothes as best she could without feeling like a Growlithe.. Reka, defiant, stepped along the dryness of the untouched sand, and off towards the city itself; and the way to the television station, which she guessed as being somewhere up North.  
  
She had no idea where her map was, but she felt the want to ask someone where she was going. However, people seemed more keen to ask her things. Such wonderances as 'Hey wow, it's that Reka girl!' and 'You've got my vote! Such a cute girl..' and the occasional 'A nine year old in office? You must be joking'.. Such people revised their opinions.  
  
In fact, they really wanted to all along. Reka told them so, so it must be completely true, of course.  
  
Eventually, Reka decided that wandering in circles listening to praise and complaint wouldn't do, and she (in her infinite wisdom) randomly strode up to the nearest person taller than five feet she could find - which, conveniently, was an Aerodactyl, a stout grey fellow with some ill-fitting clothes and a whole mop of black hair, and shades. He didn't look like much, Reka thought; but as long as he knew anything at all..  
  
"Hey, mister? Do you know where the TV studios are?"  
  
The odd gaze came back at her; and it pierced, but her disposition and her pristine cuteness softened the blow. "Do I.. know you?"  
  
"Probably. I'm Reka. Soon to be Governess Reka, if you're really being picky over it. And I wouldn't mind if you were.."  
  
"Ok then.. Governess." Whether he was being patronising, or whether Reka's statement was having an accidental effect.. didn't matter. "Yeah, I know where the TV studios are. I could give you directions, or.. I could lead you there."  
  
She liked people who knew where they stood with kids, generally. Unless the kid was her, in which case Reka would take some offence and sparks would fly. Here, though.. it was just passive, and she accepted that. "Lead the way then." she said. He complied, and she followed. He walked fast.. but she skipped, so it made the defecit up quite well.  
  
He took a sudden left turn down an alleyway. "Shortcut." Reka didn't feel the want to argue; after all, she wasn't sure what time it actually was. Anything to increase speed.. and besides, he was probably just being helpful.  
  
The alleyways that were networked off this one.. it was almost like a maze; except the way streets were organised made it a rather cubic one, and one that crossed a lot of roads quite often. It was somewhere up north.. that's all she knew; they -were- approaching the mountain, so that was okay.  
  
He stopped, in a slightly large area. The problem is that the area was blocked off, only having one exit. "Drat. Wrong turn." Reka immediately homed in on a problem with his tone of voice just then.. And, as well as that.. it was too loud. Loud is bad, and unnecessary; it was so quiet, so hot.. nobody was even awake yet, really.  
  
She spun around. Well, nobody except this guy and those.. three.. fairly unsavoury and large looking... blackly and bluely dressed morphs... Err...  
  
"So it's a wrong turn. We go back that way, right?" Reka queried, even though her overly experienced road of thought told her the sort of response this would get.  
  
"Nah. We reached a dead end. Generally you stop at one of these.. after all, going backwards just wastes time, no?"  
  
"Well..." Reka was insistant. "We're not at the studios yet."  
  
"I noticed."  
  
"Stop acting like a pansy, Kep, and just tell her why she's standing in an alley with us four." One of the morphs that approached.. it could only be a Nidorina, and a rather.. metal-covered one, at that. Not in the form of skin or anything, just.. earrings, and various other trinkets. Stereotypical, but noted perfectly, even so. Reka didn't see her carrying much of harm.  
  
"Yeah, yeah." The Aerodactyl turned; he was ahead of everyone, so he could see them all when he did this. And he was smiling. "Well, miss governess.. I'm Kep, as you just heard. My c.. um. My -associates-.." That got a slight giggle from a couple of them.. ".. and me, we have a business proposition."  
  
"I'm a nine year old Meowth, what the hell would I need with a business proposition..?" crooned Reka, in her best rendition of an 'I'm just an innnocent girl, you can let me go now and I won't terrorize the world honest' type of tone. If such a tone even exists, then this is it. That got a snigger from all four of them. Quick to humour, hm?  
  
"More then you might ever have to find out." the Aerodactyl said, cryptically. Reka just gave the 'yawn bored' look, and the conversation progressed. "At this moment.. there is no Governor. Now our 'superiors', they would not want a governor they didn't put up there in the first place. It's bad for morale, and it makes things go slow. And when that happens.. well, people get nasty."  
  
"We need a reason to get nasty..?" came the voice of the only guy in the coup, a Cubone morph. At least 6'6 and pulling in more weight than Reka wanted to know; such people did not think, they did. And when they did, the world watched. Without fail. The kittygirl cringed, openly.  
  
*Just remember that you have the ultimate power, and they haven't. In case you were thinking 'hey, I'm going to die!'.* the bell said. Reka thought back at it, slightly disbelieving. ~This isn't the sort of thing you forget you've got in a situation like this...~  
  
"Hey, she's a schizo." called the last member of the trio. A Xatu-morph, and the one Reka thought was most bothersome.. because.. she was quiet. The voice was quiet, and her look and demeanour was just silent, and foreboding. Black robes that split occasionally to let shades of green, blue, and various other things, come through. The look.. well, Reka just wasn't looking -at- her directly.  
  
"Wazzat, Sparz..?" Kep asked the Xatu. From where he was, he wouldn't hear her. Her tone didn't change, just.. everything else seemed to not drown her out this time. "She's a schizo. I'm serious. I can see two things instead of one. Are you sure it's ethical to torture and maim someone who's mentally-"  
  
"I'm not mentally ANYTHING! Except mentally cyuuuute.." Afterthought. "Maybe you're just seeing things wrong, miss .. starey birdie thing." Reka winced on the back of her face at that; perhaps she was trying just a tiny bit too hard. It worked, though; the Xatu went to quiet again. All is right with the world.  
  
"Enough of this. You have a few choices. Blato there has been awake at least five days and hasn't smashed anything into a bloody mess on a hard surface yet. We're hoping to keep him cold turkey, but that's your choice, not mine." Reka yawned, and Kep moved on, slightly surprised. "Or perhaps Kuss wants to share some piercings.. trouble is, she's bad at putting them on other people-"  
  
"The last guy is where I left him, I think." the Nidorina said, triumphantly. "With a few nails strewn about his gastric cavity. He'll either be torn apart from the inside, or slice himself up trying to get free. I don't mind which." Reka's stomach lurched, but she didn't show much of that.  
  
"Let's skip the rest. Just tell me what you want. And I'll tell you what I want." Reka said, cockily. And Kep.. being receptive, gullible, and very easy to mislead as to whether his tactics are working or not; "Pull out of the election. The Slowbro is ours anyway; but you're not."  
  
"Uhh.. No. Over my dead body." said Reka, intentionally, but covering it up with nervous glances about, as well as giggles of slight embarassment. Blato, the brute.. he just looked at the meowth girl, and shrugged. "Is that an in-vi-ta-shun?" Enunciating the syllables, too. Eugh.  
  
"Sparz might want her; I don't think you're very fond of my little bird friend, are you governess.." Kep said, wandering over to Reka, to which the result was Reka moving a different way.  
  
"I'm going to give you one chance to leave now, before I start getting upset." Reka said, fakely making the motions of barely holding her nerve. This was quite fun; the Bell wouldn't -let- her be nervous, and was actually encouraging her to play with them first. Which they ate up most delectably, laughing in such anticipated manners. Such fools..  
  
"Can I break her now Kep?" Brato said, amiably. Such a friendly guy. So.. well, so easy. Reka's plan was set in motion just then. The group closed in on her, and that prompted her to speak again.  
  
"Hey, big guy. I want you to realise that the bigger the person, the more mess they make."  
  
Blato's mind failed to accept the command. "Uhh... what?"  
  
Jeez! I want you to start breaking the decorated Nido you're standing next to. Big 'n heavy, and messy. Mess is good. I want you to remember you like mess. Hm?"  
  
Kep stared at Reka after this comment, then to the Cubone. "Just ignore it. You're here to do a job."  
  
Blato.. well, was beyond it, very quickly. No resisting the allure of the Bell for you, sir. "I must break Kuss." The Nidofemme shrieked as she was, indeed, plucked off the floor by this guy, by a leg, and even Reka winced, as the banging commenced. Whack, whack, whack...  
  
Kep's eyes turned into dinner plates, as far as Reka could care. "Stop that!"  
  
Reka, meanwhile, was not done yet. "When you're done that, I want you to realise that.. well, you're damn big and heavy, too. So slamming yourself against the floor will cause a really big mess. And what is mess?"  
  
"I like mess." came the already-rote response from the big guy. The Nidofemme wasn't making much of a noise any more.. but then, she didn't have much of a head any more. Reka could only be rather pleased the Bell was doing overtime on her physiology.  
  
"This is absurd." Kep said. "Sparz! What's she doing?"  
  
"Well.. she did warn us, I guess." Sparz said, her eyes pretty much staring.. although, there's a difference between the Xatu brand of stare and a completely impressed-semi-manic AAAHHHH stype stare. This was nearer to the latter. "I don't know what she's doing, or how she's doing it. I do know that it's working, and that I'm not going to get let off by this thing."  
  
"You're smart, miss starey birdie." was Reka's response. Slightly hollowed, and it surprised the kittygirl herself about the tone she was within. And the banging didn't help her concentration, either, but at least that was out of her line of sight, barely. "But I should let you go since you didn't do anything."  
  
"It's not within you." said the Xatu. "You know this, and I know this. So do what you're doing and I'll remember you in my next life." Said like a true contemplator. Reka took a quick look at her thoughts... and was not surprised when it was discovered that Sparz was.. correct. She was going to make this next command.  
  
"I want you two to think about the difference between the mind and the body.. In the green corner, we have the mistress of mental might.. The lady of lethal looking... The Xatu. And on the right, we've got the aerial Aerodactyl. The maestro of masterful manoeuvering, and.. I'm sure there's another alliteration, but.. I could care less. Beat each other up. No stopping at all."  
  
The Bell orchestrated the thought and the saying as clear as a crystal cup, and Reka could only watch, as the two squared up. Sparz nodded; and suddenly her task was to prove the worthiness of the mind against.. well, this pithy flying thing. At which she stared, as he flew up in the air, with a swapped objective in his eyes and his thoughts, as well.  
  
Trouble is, -she- knew that 'no stopping' meant one was to die, and the other was going to beat the corpse past submission until they exhausted themselves dead, also. No fatigue; just.. action. Still. Somewhere in her common sense.. Sparz had -always- wanted to know the answer to this. And now it was what she lived for. Funny thing.  
  
Blato, in Reka's eyes, needed another mention.. Being out of Nido to apply to hard surface, he'd started on himself.. and, some force was just lifting him up, and dropping him. The skullmask had long since shattered, but the proper skull of his - and it was probably a thick one, thought Reka - that still held. But it was a sight to witness, that much was known.  
  
Except she didn't want to witness it, and she wandered to the edge of the open area, facing away from the carnage being done behind her.. and she sat, staring away; attempting to ignore the sounds, the shrieks, and the yells, and just focus on waiting until this thing was done with. Which.. she did.  
  
***  
  
The bugmorph ran down the alleyway. As someone who is late is inclined to do. Joanna - that was her name, of course - was not often late, but today was one of those exceptions. She didn't particularly like these sort of missions, but.. whatever was said, she did. Like the good little Ledian she was.  
  
It was utterly beyond her understand -why- they needed five people to interrogate a nine year old, but she'd been told to go along anyway. Her latecomings would be just another footnote; either she'll comply, or she'll be a smear on the floor. Either way, she was actually surprised that they hadn't come back the other way by now. This alley only went one way, and that was forwards.  
  
But something was wrong. The air smelled horrible, and this only caused the blue bug to up her pace. Running ever quicker; not really noticing the lack of sun, or the lack of cloud, or the lack of any decent view.  
  
--  
  
Reka was just staring in the direction of the narrow alleyway. The noises behind her had long since stopped, but she didn't want to turn around. She wouldn't have to. Someone would be along, maybe. And if they weren't, the Bell would make her walk away eventually - but it didn't have so much hold on her that she couldn't realise what had happened, anyway.  
  
Which made it all the more purposeful when she -did- eventually turn around, anyway. To be greeted by a lot more red then she'd have liked, and her stomach curled up into a ball and awaited further instructions, but none were given.  
  
It had become impossible to tell where one started and the other began as far as the wasted puddles of morphic matter that used to be a Cubone and a Nidorina were concerned. Although the presence of pieces of the shattered skullmask as croutons in the bloody soup of what was left.. they didn't help either.  
  
In fact there was only one corpse, such as it could be called, and that was the Xatu, missing two wings, one arm, half of her head, and most of her left leg.. Very dead now, but with the look that says, since she's the only thing remotely identifiable left.. what happened to the Aerodactyl?  
  
That honour rested in the black mass to the back of the area. There was absolutely nothing to identify any more. Sparz had very defiantly annihilated what was left after his mortal coil snapped, as Reka had told her to do. The Bell, such as it was.. wasn't surprised in the slightest.  
  
*I would have won my bet with the deity had he not agreed with me.* he commented. Reka's stomach.. emptied, spontaneously, and the meowth girl finally reacted to the carnage that -she- had wrought upon the area.  
  
"I was never capable of this.." Reka wondered, aloud, staring at her hands.. Her hands, yeah; hands that had been shaped.. by the Bell. That bell.. "Sneaker was not capable of this. I'm still not..? This isn't me! What have I.."  
  
Inane ramblings of an upset nine year old. And things were being allowed to progress normally. Or maybe they weren't; perhaps she was getting off lightly. The thought hurt; Reka was not inherently evil. Or maybe Sneaker wasn't. She didn't know any more who was who.  
  
"But.. I'm just a girl.. I'm too young to be evil! I won't accept that..." Reka shouted. Shouted at the Xatu, anyway; the nearest thing she'd seen to a 'voice of reason'. Hey, she could even go speak to her mouth separately, it was kinda lying with the rest of her face over there some-  
  
"Stop it!!"  
  
And that's when she started running.  
  
Generally someone is unable to see where they're going if they're upset and wiping tears out of their eyes as they're moving along. This was the problem Reka faced, although she didn't notice it.. until she ran into a telephone pole. Out of the way of the public, just so it could be in the way of Reka, at this particular moment in time. She slid ungracefully off it, almost bouncing.. coming to a stop in a rather pale heap on the floor, and making a rather loud noise while doing so.  
  
A loud noise that Joanna, conveniently, managed to hear. And see, partially; a blur of something black spinning into a large vertical block of wood and landing in a heap. No idea who it was.. but over she went. Very quick now. She was a number of feet away from Reka in a matter of seconds there.  
  
She wondered if this was the girl the others were supposed to have gotten by now. Evidently, it was; this was the young candidate for the governorship of the Isle, if TV was to be trusted. So, she spoke.. aware Reka was not exactly knocked out by the blow. "Hey.. Where would you be going in such a hurry..."  
  
Reka heard a voice. That meant someone. That meant anyone. In the assumed ways of her form as it was, she needed comfort, and the best place to find comfort for someone of this age.. is in the embrace of someone. Anyone. So Joanna found herself latched onto by a mass of crying and screaming fur, which buried its face in the bug's clothing, and sobbed, lightly.  
  
.. What could the Ledian do? She wasn't at all sure if this girl had actually agreed to concede her candidacy.. but Joanna could offer no real explanation for how she'd gotten away if she didn't. Simple deduction; an asset to herself, really.  
  
So maybe she should play the good citizen for once. The kid probably deserved something that wasn't oppression; and hey, nobody was looking, right?  
  
"Aww, would you look.. What's up with you, then..?" she asked, plainly, offering a caress to the back of the meowth's head with her lower right hand. Clammy. They must have really shook her up..  
  
Reka didn't reply, unless incoherent and unhappy mumblings can be counted as a real reply, so Joanna asked again. "Can I do anything?"  
  
"Everyone asks me that. But I have no answer now. Just keep that hug up. You're helpful if you do that." she said plainly. Rather simple and blunt, Joanna thought; but there is plenty of excuse for that here.  
  
Unfortunately, the nature of her being made her not a very good hug. But she had four arms, so perhaps that would help, so she tried hugging with all of them, and Reka seemed to settle a small amount, not quite shaking as much. The bugmorph took this as a good sign.  
  
Trouble is.. the bell wasn't quite finished right now. It seemed to know the real purpose the Ledian had come out here.. and, of course, intent is nine tenths of everything to some people. Or some inanimate objects, to be picky.  
  
"It's good, but I think you could be better." Reka said. It was a strange way to phrase the compliment, but she, in her infinite naivity, noticed no problem with it. Until a response was given. "Um.. sure?"  
  
This bothered the adult morph a lot. How could she be -better- at this..? .. Actually, what was more strange is why, suddenly, the calibre of her ability to be a conforting embrace target was the height of her thoughts right now.   
  
After all.. she was an Agent, not a plushie. Hugging was not under her job description.  
  
At which point the Ledian's balance started to sway a little. Reka squeezed, just so she wouldn't fall over. To Joanna, however.. the force of this embrace was lessening, and she had no idea why. Until, eventually.. she didn't feel it any more. But the meowth girl seemed to be getting more content..?  
  
Reka noticed something was wrong there. Just a feeling she had, though this kinda solidified into pure truth when the thing she was latched onto suddenly felt a lot softer and more malleable than before. Pulling her head away a second, she opened her eyes. There appeared to be no difference between the clothing and the being she was clinging onto. And then.. then it dawned on her. "Oh jeez.. I'm sorry.."  
  
"You're not actually clinging on any more..? I'm right here, I'm not going anywhere.." Joanna said, smiling. Happy voice. But.. why? She wasn't wanting to try this hard.. this was just business right now, and her feel-good-for-self playing into the equation.  
  
"I won't forget you!" Reka said. And then Joanna .. ceased to think, really. Though she'd make this one happy if it was the last thing she did, and as it turned out, it would be the last thing she did. As skin and clothing came together, and became just material, an outer layer.. and softness within. The bug also became rather less supple, but that's just cause her joints were fixing in place via stitching and so forth.  
  
Reka had stopped crying just to take in the new situation.. and, in that slightly young way.. she poked at the eyes of the now-plush Joanna. Who was quickly dwindling in size.. as arms became little more than Ledian ones. Reka stared. The plush was going nonmorph on her, right here.. But those eyes felt strange, they weren't even buttons..  
  
"Funny eyes.." she said, slightly blankly. There was something about this situation that -should- have bothered her, but the Bell was chewing up memories, so that such things didn't matter. Reka had forgotten, quite genuinely. "Hey, miss, you're .. shrinking." she said to the plush, which didn't speak back, really.  
  
It kept its blue complexion, although that blue covered all where clothing used to be; nonmorph Ledians didn't need clothes, and plushies especially didn't. Down, and down.. and eventually Reka had decided that cuddling the plush was a good idea, and by then it was a properly blue Ledian plush, just right to give the full Soopa Meowth Hug o'Doom to. Which made Reka feel much better about whatever she was upset about. Whatever that was.  
  
The kittygirl flicked at the wings a little. Well, that was a stroke of luck, finding this real neat plush just lying here.. She had to get away from the realbadevilthing behind her, anyway, and besides, she was going to be late for her television meeting!  
  
"You can come too.." she said to the stuffed toy, which just blankly glanced back without saying a word. ".. We'll call you Bluewings! Because I've never seen a blue Ledian before, and you're just too cute, you know that.."  
  
Feelings dissipated back to the default glee, as Reka wandered away from the alley, and hopefully to someone who would direct her properly to where she wanted to go. 


	6. Reka Sings

Nyaasu no Uta isn't mine. The lyrics are by Toda Shougo, and are © to him as well, most likely. If you try hard enough, you can find a translation, but it doesn't really matter too much anyway if you do, since Reka doesn't know it either. It's just a song that works for the mood. ^^  
  
---------  
  
Reka eventually got to where she wanted to be. Even after today's proceedings.. it turned out she was still early. Lucky for her, that. Nobody really cared about the fact she had the Ledian plushie in tow; if anything, it would probably help her campaign, thought the few that it mattered to. It came down, eventually, to Reka sat in a room off-studio, deciding what she could do for her little time slot, with the help of some random people that she guessed she should know, but it didn't matter since she wasn't going to lose. But Reka had never been on TV properly and live before.. it was kind of a status thing more than anything else.  
  
"You seem to focus more on the fact you're damn cute, so.. maybe you could fill the time with something random, like 'how to count'?" Reka wasn't really paying much attention to this guy, a stuck-up Umbreon morph with a silver spoon somewhere on his person and slightly more cockiness than she could really care for. Maybe this guy'd make a nice ornament.. and she mentally kicked herself, while brushing him off.  
  
"I solve looking cute by being there in the first place. I need something to do. Any ideas?"  
  
"Maybe you should just go all out and make your opponent out for the unworthy heathen they're supposed to be." said the second guy.. a Rhydon, but not too large a one. Young, and Reka liked him. He lacked having any form of utensil jammed into any part of his being, and this was quite pleasing.  
  
"Would be nice. Tell you what.. I'll just pretend I'm listening, and make something up on the spot. Has impact value, plus.. I get to surprise you two as well. Won't that be fun?" went Reka, cuddling the Ledian plush lovingly. The two exchanged glances, while the door opened and a busy-looking Ivysaur placed her head around the door. "You're on in five minutes. They want you down on studio."  
  
Then, the head disappeared again - and Reka along with, plush in tow, just leaving the two advisors there to ponder the meowthgirl's fate. Of course, Reka already knew she was certifiably the winner, so this was just.. party play. But still, she had to think of something to do, in five minutes..  
  
"Three minutes." said someone passing her by as she entered the studio. Fine, three. Still more time than she needed. Because.. she had a rather fun idea.  
  
"I want some lyrics for a song. Don't matter which one, just make it cute and meowthy." she told some random guy. Who promptly turned to her like he'd been expecting her all along, and handed her a sheet of paper. "These are for you."  
  
The kittygirl eyed the sheet. The language wasn't recognisable by her, but.. she did know how to pronounce things. If it ounds good.. why'd it matter about the meaning. "I want someone who can play this on set.. two minutes ago." she said to the same guy, as an afterthought. Blonde-haired Lapras, bipedal, definitely male. He pointed towards a corner of the room that had once been empty.  
  
Now it had a piano in it, and a black Spearow sat at it. "Done." he said, before eventually wandering off, leaving Reka, to.. wander off towards the centre of the studio, where people were gathering, and where cameras were pointing.  
  
"90 seconds!"  
  
"Yeah, I'm here." she said, skipping onto stage (amidst a few collective 'awws' from female members of the studio crew). "This going over radio too?"  
  
"Sure is. Busy day in here today. But then, these elections are worth it. Tomorrow'll be one heck of a day."  
  
Reka shrugged. "I only worry about the day when it arrives. And I'm not worried; opinion polls are very good in my favour, actually."  
  
"30 seconds! Miss Reka, just come up here, and wait until that guy at the camera waves at you.. At that point, you're on."  
  
The wiry black meowth just did that.. no questions asked. "Gotcha." she said, tightening the grip on the Ledian for her own personal self-reassurance. Still, she scanned the page of 'lyrics' she'd been handed.. could she really pull this off?  
  
"10.."  
  
Reka couldn't remember herself ever singing, within any lifetime. Maybe it was just something she'd know she could do.. and if she couldn't, it wouldn't hurt her anyway, since all she had to do was say 'Vote for me!' and she'd won, right?  
  
"5, 4, 3..." The count stopped at this point, and she just waited. Patiently, an unusual thing for her to be. And so, the program started.  
  
---  
  
Said the TV. "It's a special edition of PMI Local News, airing an hour early, for radio convenience. This broadcast is being made over shortwave and broadcast TV, focusing on the close run-in to our first election day in quite a while, which takes place tomorrow! Here's handing you over to our host.. Cothyl Kezaki!"  
  
The opening shot dwindled, to show just a Sneasel femme dressed in a rather plain and straight red and blue dress. The lights made her eyes shine a little too much, but she didn't seem to make any big deal of it. "Hello! Before we begin this refreshment of today's opinion polls, and any other hot news out there.. we have a special guest down in the studio tonight."  
  
"Apparantly taking the country's interest by storm, sayeth the opinion polls.. It seems to be the moment's favourite nine year old.. possibly of all time. Here's introducing Reka, who will do something for you for around five minutes of this program. As part of her campaign to you people. Indeed." Grin, smile, and the cameraman in front of Reka waved at her.  
  
"Oh.. Hi mister cameraman."  
  
Voice from off.. 'That means you're on, miss.'  
  
"Ohh.. Course it does! Hello world! .. Wow that sounded corny. Still. It's good to be here. I am going to help my big flashy campaign by singing a little song for you. It's called 'Nyaasu no Uta', and I'm really fond of it, actually!"  
  
Some awws occurred, even while the set was rolling. Some things just have to be acknowledged as cute, at least. Don't they always? The piano started up.. trying its best to emulate a high pitched instrument, failing, but not sounding bad.  
  
Reka waited for what seemed like the right cue... which it was, quite coincidentally; maybe she had heard this song before..  
  
"Aoi, aoi.. shiku-ka-na yoru ni wa~.." it came, and everything except the piano went completely silent. Including Reka's thought process. Wow... The voice was good. Cute and good, and it took her so by surprise that she missed the next line, tripping over a giggle-intro a half-bar late.  
  
"Oi-ira hitori de, tetsugaku suru no nya~.."  
  
Reka reminded herself to actually check what this song meant.  
  
"Kusamura de.. mushi-tachi wa.. koro koro.. chiri chiri.."  
  
"Oishi sou ni naite'ru kedo..~ Konyaa~wa, tabete, agenai no nyaa~.."  
  
Some of the staff about the studio were half-singing along, but the mic was trained on Reka, so it didn't harm things any. The habit of whistling the instrumentals was not eradicated, even then. But it sounded okay, so she went with it.  
  
"-Otsuki-sama ga, anna ni.. marui nante... Anna, marui, nante.. anni...~"  
  
Reka had no idea how she was doing, but she seemed to be very happy.. offering a very large smile to the camera, which might have awwed itself had it not been an inanimate piece of metal-glass-et cetera.  
  
"Sekai no, donna.. maru yori marui nyaa~.. sekai no, donna; marui yori ma-rui nyaa.."~  
  
More instrumental. The black Spearow knew his stuff.. and he tried to adlib it, but instead ran into Reka doing the same thing. The result avoided being chaos, and actually sounded pretty fine. The kittygirl was nervous, though, and it showed.  
  
"Hiroi hiroi, uchuu doko ka ni~.. mou hito~rii no.. oira ga, iru no nyaaa~.."  
  
"Onaji you-ni kusamura de.. boro boro.. chara ira..~"  
  
Reka missed the next cue a little, but rescued it, by taking the harmony with the piano - risky, even at a good time of day, and with a song that one knows well. Worked pretty much to perfection.. although she had to wonder whether the Bell was helping here.  
  
"Gi-taa hi-ite, i-yiru no ka nyaa~ nyaasu no, uta-a-wo, utatte'ru ka nyaa~.."  
  
*I'm not helping, I'm listening. Apparantly if you weren't such a nihilist, you'd have been a singer. Funny, eh?*  
  
Reka didn't need such commentary within the song.. and she missed her cue to think as such. *Be quiet..!*  
  
A flash occurred in her head. Reka saw.. -the scene-. From earlier today. And she choked, but.. somehow managed to retain composure, as the waterworks started again. Just a little.. she held them off with full force; the Bell was not proving its dominance, right here on TV..  
  
The pianist noticed the break, and he slowed, which was kinda perfect for the mood, as Reka picked up a tearful sounding continuation;  
  
"...Hitori-kiri ga.. konna ni.. set-su, setsunai na-ante~~.. konna ni, setsunai, nante.. .. konna ni..."  
  
The pitch there went high and low quite a number of times, but.. always it sounded fine. Accident, luck, or the Bell not letting her suffer; it was an adlib, and it sounded good.  
  
The studio was noticing the little breakdown Reka was having, so they tried to sing in louder.. and the mic had to do some fancy moving about to get both sounds in when Reka started to just sing alternately with the last two sentences with the rest of the crowd, just because it felt like fun..  
  
"Ima-gooro.. mi-ina , nani shite iru no ka nya, Ima-goro, mi-ina nani shite iru no ka nyaa~~"..  
  
"Dare ka ni.. denwa.. shittaku /natchatta/, nyaa~~.." finished Reka, in a defiant tone.. before she just plumped down where she was sat, and cuddled on the Ledian plush something fierce. Today was just too much hassle..  
  
.. but the studio didn't mind the adlibbing, and they started applauding, mostly just because some of them wasn't sure Reka's 'act' during the last few verses was an act. Still, Reka had enough left to pipe in at the end.  
  
"And remember. Elections tomorrow. I want everyone out there to vote for me! I'm done.. I'll leave these fine people to scrape my nerve-wracked body from the stage and take me home.."  
  
And that was today's aim completed, Reka knew this, and she just decided that the floornap was best, so over she went, although clapping was the last sound to enter her ears today, at least.  
  
***  
  
Reka was moved to a couch somewhere in the studio, but she didn't wake up that day. No, she slept through until the day after.. the dream she had this day was particularly captivating. It was Sneaker in the same situation as Reka had been in.  
  
There was no bell; which was expected. The problem is that the outcome was.. unsavoury. Sneaker got what they said Reka would have got if she didn't comply, because.. the kitty was just that obnoxious, even at best.  
  
Reka woke up screaming just before his head hit the floor, anyway. Even if it wasn't her.. it both felt like it, and shocked her because hey, she loved that guy. He was just the neatest person in existence, and she could say that as much as she liked since it wasn't self-praise any more!  
  
"I love Sneaker." she told the nearest person.. which was actually the Umbreon from the little advisory session before. He didn't take much notice.. "You woke up. What happened out there yesterday, anyway..?"  
  
"Oh.. Don't worry. I'm rested.." said Reka, pulling herself to a strangely jerky sit. Couches are not comfy to sleep on, by definition. Though they're a good seat.. "And today is the big day. What time will we know?"  
  
"Voting goes on from 10am until 8pm. The results are counted today, as this isn't too big an island, and you'll know before midnight tonight. Heck, if the opinions are right, they won't need to count at all."  
  
"Can I vote for myself?"  
  
The Umbreon smiled. "Nah. Not allowed. But it doesn't matter much in the long run anyway. Shouldn't bother you, you're not going to lose this."  
  
It was mid-afternoon, which meant Reka had been out for just over a whole day. And her head hurt a little. Still, she had to make her presence as nice as possible.. today was The Day, that she'd waited a whole four days for. Too long. She should just think of an easier way to get things done.  
  
Bluewings was somewhere on the floor, just off the sofa. Reka had dropped her while sleeping, and she picked the plush back up just as soon as she noticed this. She tried to remember about where she'd found the Ledian.. but it was just out of her reach. Curious.  
  
This saddened her for a reason she also couldn't place, and she dropped a tear onto the material of the bug's wings, before.. it was passed. The blackcat stood up. "Can I still go out, or would we rather I stay here?"  
  
"Yeah, you can go out. The heat's passed; it's just cloudy and a bit cold now."  
  
Reka awwed. That meant no fun at the beach today. Still, there had to be somewhere she could go.. and, brushing off her still clean dress, she wandered away from the couch and the Umbreon and the room, towards wherever the exit to this big place was.  
  
People would pass her by, morphs of no real regard to her since she didn't know her, but she'd beam and they'd say "Good luck!" or "You're going to win this, miss!" or other such things, It was quite nice, she felt, and she smiled genuinely before she left the building.  
  
Some walking later.. and Reka found herself at the park. Which was actually populated somewhat, with morphs just needing to get out for a walk. Just like her, in fact. "C'mon Bluewings.. let's see if there's anything to do in here." she offered. And then eyed. When had she started talking to the plush, anyway...?  
  
People started to wander over to her when she passed down the walkways, however. It was quite a problem when all she wanted to do was relax.. that morphs would come over out of the blue. "Hey, it's miss Reka!" or something of that sort. Yeah, she smiled still.. but it soon felt hollow. Attention was good, but.. the Sneaker still within her was not particularly pleased.  
  
After all, she wasn't driving people away left and right, which was a breach of her duty. Right?  
  
"I just want people not to notice me today!" she muttered to the Ledian. And then a chill flew up her spine and she tripped over, and landed on her front. Hey. What was that..  
  
"Stupid pathway!" she spoke, before getting off the floor. And then.. staring. Where had her arms gone, anyway.. And he legs.. And just -her- basically. There was.. nothing there.  
  
The Ledian was still there. The fact that a floating plushie was all people new to the particular area of walkway Reka was stood on made quite a few people stare, before.. walking on. No, there are many things about this island one should never ask about, and such..  
  
"Well, this is what I get for thinking aloud, I guess.." the now invisible Reka said. "What did I say.. Today. Oh great. I'll not reappear until tomorrow." The plush moved off in a direction.. before it stopped, as Reka stopped, and a sly and unseen grin crossed her face. Hey, if she was invisible.. why not use it to her advantage?  
  
"I want people not to notice Bluewings either.. just for today. Just like me." she said, second guessing that a floating Ledian might attract more attention than she herself would. And then the plushie vanished, in a faint blue glow; she could feel its warmth and fuzziness quite well, but its actual visibility.. no.  
  
"Hehehe.." she giggled, as she ran off down the path. Today might be more fun than it seemed it wanted to be, after all.. 


	7. Reka At The Park

There was one place where Reka felt today's special gift could be used most. This, of course.. being down at the recreation grounds inside the park. Where people play games that involve hitting balls or shuttles or golf balls or crown green bowls or any other sort of projectile, through the air or along the floor, fast, slow, or stupidly fast. What fun this could be.  
  
--  
  
It was tense. Katheyna's match at tennis today was going pretty good.. but she was having to fight to draw against this guy. And boy, was he good. But then.. creatures with more than two arms were allowed, by amended rules, to hold one racket per set. Which she found blatantly unfair, since he was a bug and she was just a grounder, no biggie..  
  
The scores as they were.. 7-6 6-7 6-6, deuce. Right to the wire. And Katheyna was absolutely shattered. The last thing she needed was an invisible meowthgirl watching the match from the sidelines, plotting when best she could hop in and mess up the game. Of course, she'd never get to know this as being something she didn't need, but hey; who asked her anyway?  
  
Reka was considering that one holding two and the other holding one made this thing not fair. And then.. the bell again. And suddenly things didn't quite matter so much. She's shattered, she'll probably think she's losing her mind if something goes wrong.  
  
And she giggled, and nobody really noticed. This was great.  
  
She'd won it to her advantage, for the twelfth time. He always seemed to get one back just when it counted. But .. not this time. This time it was all going to be over. And the sandling pitched the ball up.. and hysically screamed at it as she went to hit it.. and swiped through the air. Nothing. "Eh?"  
  
The ball was just stuck around six feet in the air, and the Venomoth.. he was just looking at it, and pointing with a free arm. "Uh.. Kathe? Something's wrong with the ball.. I think.."  
  
The 'shrew looked up. So there was. Oh well, we can serve from here. "Gyaah!" she shouted, as she sliced once more.. and the ball had dropped half a foot and was just hopping about in the air. Possessed ball. "What the heck?!"  
  
Swipe, miss, swipe miss, swipe miss swipe miss swipemissswipemiss beat beat beat and "WHY WON'T YOU LET ME HIT YOU?!" was the eventual cry.  
  
"Okay." was the soft and girlish response, as the ball bounced onto Kathe's racket, and then rolled along the floor. Reka giggled, and took herself off the court for then. "Aahha.. Deuce, again.. but.. I don't think.." She collapsed, and nobody really would have blamed her. The Venonat came over.. "You know, I'll settle for a draw.."  
  
Reka all but cackled, and it got the Venonat's attention.. well, until he realised nothing was there, of course. Reka decided to leave the two to their recovery, and pottered off down one of the paths beside the court.  
  
--  
  
Ah, the fun pursuit of crown green bowling. It's like ten pin bowling, only.. not.  
  
Carson (the loveable Nidoran-morph, of course) was busy deciding that he should learn to play this strange sport. So, he'd found some people that knew what they were doing - one adult Arcanine, male, and one lady Persian, and both seemed slightly more silver-spoony than he could really care for.  
  
And they were showing him the wonders of tossing black off-weight balls at another, smaller, white ball, and seeing who could get the most balls closest. Needless to say - and like most Nidorans would be - he was just a tiny bit bored.  
  
Things didn't go flying into pits only to have metal machines rerack them while your ball flies down a chute. Which kinda made it a bit less worthile. Just a bit. Carson was still smiling, anyway..  
  
At this particular moment, he was losing, because all bowling taught him is that 'throwing the ball really hard will make you win'. Crown green.. is nothing like that. So he was down three balls and he only had one left. So, somehow.. this one had to split everything.  
  
Reka was off the sidelines, still invisible, and she didn't have a clue what they were doing, but.. she'd been watching for a number of minutes, and the idea seemed sound. That really cute lad over there (Reka's mind instantly stared at itself) wanted to win, and he was going to have a job doing it from here.  
  
"Unless I help out?" was her answer, before she giggled again, and hurried onto the green.  
  
Carson threw the ball, anway. It was a nice ball, with a red sideline and red trim. And it wasn't his, but he had no fear in trundling it towards the other balls. The Persian.. snerked; that was too softly thrown, and the ball was turning and probably going to stop less than halfway there.  
  
Which it did. "That's three to me, I think.." she said, savouring the hollowness of winning against someone quite a bit smaller than she.  
  
Carson looked out along the green.. and noticed something. "No, wait.. it's not stopped yet."  
  
Missie - for want of a better name - glanced out along the green, and started speaking. "Don't be-"  
  
Stupid? The ball was, indeed, moving. Moving impossibly, too; waving to either side, going at a constant speed, and generally ignoring all physical laws. "Is it meant to do that..?" the Nido asked.  
  
"..." That's not the sort of thing you answer.  
  
Along the ball went! Reka was pushing it along and nobody was really seeing her at all. When it got to the set of the other balls - she stopped, and the ball stopped, and she wondered how best to do this, to make it look good.  
  
Missie eyed. "Well, it's still stopped short. Three to me."  
  
"Well, your balls are moving now." Carson said, and Missie.. had to start walking over there because, indeed, -without contact-, her own balls were slowly being moved from their tight spots around the white one.  
  
Slowly, but they were. "Something's fishy here." she said, making herself hungry at the same time.  
  
Then two balls just flung themselves away from the pack and landed elsewhere, while one lifted off the floor, and moved over to the Persian, and dumped itself in her arms. Carson eyed the setup.. the only ball anywhere near the set was.. his.  
  
"One to me?" he said, grinning like anything. The Persian.. hissed, and stormed off. "What just happened, Sedg?!" she asked the Arcanine, but he was kinda still staring at the pack.. and Missie waved a hand in front of him, and he didn't blink.  
  
"Oh great.."  
  
--  
  
It wasn't exactly late, but Reka couldn't help but feel she should get to the elections office soon anyway. That's where she was expected to be, come to think of it.. not playing with people's minds in the park. But hey. She had time for one more.  
  
Badminton is a wonderful sport. Just like all the others. The shuttle, a piece of feathered plastic, can be hit so hard and go so little a distance that it's almost unimaginable. Though it gives your arm a run for its money, that much can be said.  
  
Karlai was squaring off against Soir in what was just a practice. The thing is in this case.. that Karlai was a, quite young, female purple Charmander .. and Soir was an Abra with a piece of gauze around his eyes.. and he wasn't even holding the racket he was swinging about at the shuttle. Quite a nice setup.  
  
"But you don't even have to move about!" Karlai was complaining, as she darted back and forth, while Soir stood on the centreline and the serveline, and the racket did all sorts of weird and wonderful jumpings and slicings about to return the shuttle rather cleanly each time. "Yeah, but would you have me jump about for it?"  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"I have to visualise both where the thing is, where the shuttle is, and where you are. It's as much a toil for my head as it is for your body, I assure you of that." Sounded pretty mature for an Abra, did this guy. Never evolved; Reka could see a glint of purple shine through his shirt just for a second there. A stone? Fair enough.  
  
Reka had never minded psychics before. But the Bell was in control here. And it thought something was wrong, so it made Reka aware of it. Still; the meowthgirl decided she could continue anyway, and she stood aside the court.  
  
The shuttle was tapped lightly by Soir, just on the serve; as you do. Reka decided now was the time, and bounced forward, to take the shuttle out of the air. Well, she'd have taken it out of the air, had it not gone purple on her, and burned her hand. "Yeeaahh!" And she fell over, still invisible, the shuttle hitting the net, having been deflected enough.  
  
Unseen, she cradled her hand. Karlai had no idea what had just happened.. but Soir was speaking. To Reka? "Now why'd you want to go and do something like that, little one..?"  
  
"Soir, who'ya talking to?"  
  
"There's a girl sitting on the floor. Feline. Indestinct. I'd have not noticed her if she hadn't tried to grab the shuttle."  
  
"There's nobody there."  
  
Karlai looked again.. but her ears told a different story. They told of slight sobbing. Reka had a rather nasty burn on her hand from that psychic's attack, and it was making her upset. And since she couldn't be noticed, this wasn't seen; but she could still be heard.  
  
"Well, this girl's invisible. As far as I'm concerned, anyway; I don't think it matters too much."  
  
"He can see me?" she said. Well.. it was a given. "I said I didn't want to be noticed! At all! I want you to not be able to see me, or sense me, or detect me or whatever the heck else it is you're doing!" she screamed at him.  
  
Unfortunately, blanket statements like that are the Bell's gift to being unfair, and that's exactly what it did. So a list of all the things Soir was doing constructed itself in Reka's head. Sensing her, detecting her presence, her being. Detecting where he was, knowing where he was. And then the basic stuff... breathing, thinking. Processing. Remembering. Existing. All the other stuff that he was, indeed, doing.  
  
".. I can't see anything any more..!" he eventually called out, after collapsing on the floor. Something was wrong here. The racket clattered on the floor also.  
  
"Soir?!"  
  
".. Oh I didn't mean that. No I didn't mean THAT! STOP IT!!" Reka screamed also, but.. pfft. Reka was useless at acting correctly. She was only nine, of course. So the Bell took her off autopilot and let herself scream and worry her own self into nonaction.  
  
Soir wasn't doing much of anything any more. "Karlai.. .. I think maybe something.." Is wrong? Something went wrong the next second, as his skin and his being took on the texture and quality of hardened rock. A statue? Maybe. But then it'd still exist, in some way... Nah. Reka knew. The Bell was being dramatic.  
  
The Bell was going to leave her with the sound of a shattering psychic, which she'd promptly remember whenever it felt best. She was helplesss against it, and she realised this now.  
  
That's pretty much what happened. Shatter. A nice dramatic ending to a misworded phrase, and something that made the kittygirl wonder is this, really, was the deity's impression of 'making the world a funner place.' Crack, crunch. Karlai could do not much but stare. Cracking, falling, going. Disappearing. Becoming gone. So unfair.  
  
And Reka had not actually minded the guy, but for the fact she burned herself and blamed him. "No!"  
  
Like shouting no at the face of time would do much anyway? Too late. She could do little but watch, and then when there was nothing to watch.. and she realised that she'd been watching the whole time.  
  
The Bell made her face grin. And she cursed it inwardsly, and dragged herself away from the scene, leaving behind the Charmander, and a large number of bits of unidentifiable rock.  
  
*Well, he won't notice you again, if that's what you want.*  
  
Scream.  
  
The world pulled that little bit too tight on Reka, and she fell over again. And all she knew was that, when she woke up agaiun.. the Bell would have took the memories, and left just the traces. And that would be its way. That would be -the- way.  
  
But she couldn't take it off, not now. The world swam black, and she with it.  
  
***  
  
It was dark when she woke again. And too right, she had no idea what had happened. Quite desolate and empty was the park.. the place she was at was a bare court, save for some bits of gravel that must have come loose from the path.  
  
Which went crunch underfoot, cleanly. Reka remembered where she was, and then.. thought about the time. The election! They'd be counting now!  
  
She was visible, she noticed. Hard thing to forget, really. The bell sat innocently around her neck, and tingled a little when she moved aside, picked up Bluewings, and scampered off in the direction of the north park exit. So it was late at night.. what'd she care? She was the supreme one!  
  
Past streets that looked dismal in the dark light.. it had to be gone midnight now, which means they'd not only know, they'd have known for a while. And where was she? Passed out on a badminton court. Splended. At least nobody noticed her as she ran along.. and, somehow, all the funny people one could find out at such late times were off in some other area of the city.  
  
Election Office was still open, because they were waiting for her, in all honesty. Because she had won, there was no surprise in this statement.  
  
"Sorry I'm laaate!" she called in. "I fell asleep somewhere..! I don't know why.."  
  
A few 'aww's.  
  
"Well, miss Reka.." the Umbreon said. "You took 93% of the voting circle. That's the biggest win in this island's short history. Be proud; you can sleep in the mansion which is rightfully yours this night."  
  
And some cheering was in order. Of course, the dumb thing is that Reka was too young to last at any celebration party they might have had. Mostly this was for the election staff. Reka wasn't feeling too well today at all, for reasons she'd since forgotten - gleefully for her - and instead she and the Umbreon left for the mansion, which was partially furnished at least.  
  
Still dark, still dismal.. the sort of night where things happened. Reka had the Ledian, and the Umbreon was by her side, and they were just moving pretty quickly. Walking, as well. 


End file.
